The Weekly Encourager – February 20, 2020 – Idols Insight

Our church has been going through the book of Jonah. One Sunday, Pastor Rob Yancey preached on Jonah 2:8. “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.” I jotted down the verse, thinking, “check, got it.” Rob said that an idol is whatever we trust in that is not God. What do I feel I need for satisfaction? What do I believe I couldn’t live without? As he listed various things that could become idols, I thought either, “Oh, that’s not a problem for me,” or “Oh, I’m already praying about that one.” Exactly three days later, I fell. Each time I fall, I ask the Lord to teach me whatever He wishes through it. My belief is that if the same trial keeps happening over and over, there must be something I haven’t learned yet.

As the sermon continued, Rob asserted that “There is only one Throne,” meaning that God alone is worthy of worship. Then he encouraged personal application: name your idols, confess your idols, then replace your idols by finding a superior object of worship (God). Jonah’s prayer ends with the acknowledgement that “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” Jonah 2:9 It all seemed pretty straightforward as I noted each point in my journal. I never dreamed I’d be reading over those notes again so soon, while resting in bed after my fall.

As I lay there in pain, my eyes fell on those notes and I saw things in a new light. What?! The Spirit showed me that I’ve made an idol out of my good health! I’ve been so healthy and fit for most of my life, that I’ve begun to be proud of that fact and brag about it, as if it were all my own doing. The painful truth is that my good health is temporary. Life and health come only from the Creator, and they can be taken away at any time. In a moment, I can slip on a yoga mat to my dismay, or slip down the side of a cliff to my death. Any day I wake up is a day to thank the Lord.

Then this passage came up in my morning devotional: “In my prosperity I said, ‘This is forever, nothing can stop me now! The Lord has shown me his favor. He has made me steady as a mountain.’ Then, Lord, you turned your face away from me and cut off your river of blessings. Suddenly my courage was gone….Hear me, Lord. Oh, have pity and help me.” - Psalm 30:6-10 TLB How appropriate to my condition: so confident, yet so clueless. He is King of kings and Lord of lords! Nothing else deserves to sit on that throne, whether it’s physical health, relationships, entertainment, or self-control.

What are my other idols? What are your idols? I have learned that the Lord will take away that which we idolize, that which we value more than Him. It happened to Jonah, and it can happen to us. He loves us too much to allow idols to take over our lives.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” - Psalm 139:23-24 ESV

God is faithful,
j