August 2nd

We have a way of making good things into ultimate things, that we then attribute enough worth to that we bow before such idols in worship (by the way, worship literally comes from worth-ship).  The prophet Jeremiah described this kind of behavior in Jeremiah 2:12-13, Be appalled at this, you heavens, And shudder, be very desolate, declares the Lord. For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living waters, To carve out for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That do not hold water (Jeremiah 2:1213).  I think the New Living Translation expresses the point of the prophet better than the NASB: The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay, says the Lord. For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!

We were made for so much more than people and stuff, for we were made to know and be known by the LORD God Almighty!  Above all that he had, Abraham cherished the son God blessed he and his wife with.  It would have been easy for Abraham to make Isaac an idol, but by the time he was born to Abraham, he had learned that there was nothing that could compete with the God we were made to know and worship.  In Genesis 22:1-19, we read of how Abraham was asked to sacrifice the one thing he had dreamed and hoped for all of his life.  He was asked to sacrifice his one and only son, Isaac.  Abraham was willing to do it, but God stopped him before he did.  The one thing that Abraham cherished more than any other, he was willing to place upon Gods altar and sacrifice it.  God provided a ram in place of Isaac.  Abraham built an altar in that place and named it, Yahweh-Jireh which means, The LORD will Provide.  The ram provided in place of Isaacs life was a foreshadowing of the Lamb of God, namely Jesus, who was provided in our place for our sin to give us what we really need, namely Yahweh-Jireh.

The thing about our God is that he knows what you need and cares more about you than you will ever know.  Sometimes, in order to give you what you truly need, it means that He must destroy the idols in your life that compete for your affection and love.  The thing about idols is that they always promise what they cannot provide and rob you of the very thing they promise.   As I think upon the reality that my heavenly Father is Yahweh-Jireh I cannot help but think of the ultimate way He has provided in and through His own Son:

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday at 9:00 and 10:30 to celebrate The LORD who provides!   

Grace,

Pastor Keith