Idols

This morning I was reminded of an interesting experience I had a couple of summers ago. Some of you may recall that I traveled to a land that will remain nameless that summer and God really changed my life during that time. Though I had many wonderful and amazing adventures and encounters, the Lord brought back a specific encounter that I and two of my friends had one afternoon.

It was a beautiful sunshiny day and our group traveled a long way from what we called “home” to a new city. This was a very civilized city but right on the outskirts of the city was an area where people from that land came to worship. The spiritual darkness in this area was overwhelming. My friends and I ventured around the grounds of this new and different setting that we found ourselves in and we ended up in a temple. There was a “guard” at the entrance of the temple and we walked right by him like he didn’t even see us. We went inside and I immediately became nauseated by the paintings on the wall. There were images that seemed so evil painted on the wall and there were haunting statues all around us and yet people travel hundreds and thousands of miles to come and worship these images. My friends and I noticed that the guard left his post and as soon as he did, we pulled out our WORD and started sending praises to the ONE TRUE GOD in the midst of this evil place.

The Lord brought me this morning to this scripture that we read in that temple and He truly blessed me through it. I am reminded that even though that evil place is thousands of miles away from me now, there are still people who go to worship those images there, and more than that, there are people in this country (including yours truly) that worship images that don’t look so evil on the outside but they are graven on the inside.

Please take a moment to be blessed by the Word of the Lord.

Psalm 97
1 The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes on every side.
4 His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the peoples see his glory.
7 All who worship images are put to shame,
those who boast in idols—
worship him, all you gods!
8 Zion hears and rejoices
and the villages of Judah are glad
because of your judgments, O LORD.
9 For you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
10 Let those who love the LORD hate evil,
for he guards the lives of his faithful ones
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is shed upon the righteous
and joy on the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous,
and praise his holy name.