Daily Devotional | False Idols

One pastor warned his congregation that they shouldn’t give too much priority to sports. If you skipped Sunday service to watch a football game, for example, chances were good that sports had become your idol. While it is true that idols can be anything that takes our attention away from God, Micah gives a different perspective on idolatry: an idol is anything to which we look for what only God provides.

Yesterday we read about God’s commitment to take away the military strength that His people trusted in, along with anything that made them think they could manipulate God. Today, He promises to remove a third thing that affects His relationship with His people: idols. God will destroy them, for only He is worthy of worship. Further, only He can truly provide for His people. When we look to idols or military strength or other rituals, it is utterly futile. The Lord, on the other hand, graciously and abundantly provides for His children.

Deuteronomy 32 records the way people turned from their Creator. God was angry at their betrayal: “They abandoned the God who made them and rejected the Rock their Savior” (v. 15). Micah 5:15 also records God’s reaction. He will “take vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations that have not obeyed me.” These may seem like harsh words, particularly in our culture, but they demonstrate God’s enormous love and covenant faithfulness. He longs for us not to look to anything other than Him for our needs. May we heed His call to be faithful to Him, to trust in Him, and to demolish the things in our lives that cause us to stray.

>> Consider the idols in your own life. What things do you put your trust in? What or who do you turn to for help? What can you do to remove those things from your life? Read also: Deuteronomy 32:15–22

Pray with Us

How can we thank You, the Father who gave His only Son to save “a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful” (Deut. 32:20)? Remembering Your sacrifice, we repent of our idolatry.

BY Russell L. Meek

Russell Meek teaches Old Testament and hermeneutics at Moody Theological Seminary. He is a columnist for Fathom magazine and writes widely for lay and academic audiences about all things Old Testament and its relationship to the Christian life. Russell, his wife, and their three sons live in north Idaho, where you’ll find them gardening, cooking, and exploring the wild.