Be careful of idol worship
1 Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over
Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel. 2 He
was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem
twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 3 He
did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had
done. 4 He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the
sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent
that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices
to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.
This morning I was reading and this passage of 2 Kings 18
hit me how easily we can take something and make it an idol. Because Hezekiah “did
what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done”
he was removing the pagan shrines and other idol worship items. These were all
items that were used in pagan worship, but he also destroyed the bronze serpent
(snake) that Moses had made.
Now without some background that does sound odd that
Moses would have created an idol like this. The thing is, that was not why he
made it. We have to go to Numbers
21:4-9 to see why it was made. The Israelites were once again speaking out
against God and Moses so God sent poisonous snakes. Many died because of the
snakes. When they repented, God had Moses create the bronze snake and anyone
that looked at it was healed.
The bronze snake in and of itself was not evil, in fact
the reason it was made was because God told Moses to make it. Over time the
people forgot what the meaning behind it was and they were offering sacrifices
to it. Things are not idols until we make them that way.
So what can we take away from this? We have heard it said
that money is not the root of all evil, but the love of it is. The love of
something can make it an idol. We should not love anything or anyone more than
we love God.
God, help us to not to be idol worshippers. Help us to
remember to rely on you and not things or stuff. Just as Your Son taught us
that you take care of every living thing, we need to be mindful of this. Thank
you Father for providing all that we need each and every day. Amen.
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