#DailyDevotion Is Jesus Your Every Thing Or Do You Worship Idols Too?
July 23rd
Read 1 Sam 6:19—7:17
1Sa 7:3-6 And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”…(6) So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.
The Israelites never seemed to have gotten it. I guess on one hand that is a good thing. They serve as an example to us. “How so?” you say. Just this, that even as the Lord had delivered the Israelites time and again, they very often as soon as the crisis was over went to worshipping foreign gods, Baal and Ashtaroth. They had their little house gods for the little things of life. One god for toothaches another for smelly feet. One god for having sharp blades and another to keep the wife happy. You name a situation or circumstance in your life and they probably had a god to take care of it much like Rome the East have saints to take care of every instance of life. And when the big things mattered they worshipped Baal and Ashtaroth. God would then hand them over to serve those people who served those gods. They would subject them to themselves, make slaves out their children, take the work of their hands and the like. Eventually they’d cry out to the Lord for help and he would help them.
So today in the lesson, the people of Israel cried for help and the Lord helped them. Note well Samuel’s words, “, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only…” Then the people repented and confessed their sins against the Lord. The Lord then helped them.
You might not pray to idols, Baal or Astaroth. You might not turn to the saints for help. But what do you turn to for your day in and day out troubles? What do you turn to for your big troubles? Many people turn to sex, drugs, alcohol or even food to help them get through the day to day problems. Some turn to them with their big problems. Some procrastinate to deal with life. Other fight and argue, gossip and slander to deal with things. We act out on our fears with numerous bad habits or defects of character. But what we don’t do is turn to the Lord and if we do turn to Him we do so with all the rest of the things we turn to on a regular basis.
Jesus wants to be your everything. Repent! Confess your sins! Trust him that he is there for you in every aspect of your life. Put away those things which used to comfort you which eventually carry with them a heavy price. Jesus’ load is not burdensome but light. Don’t turn to created things or ideas or habits to make it through the night. Get on your face and ask Jesus and your heavenly Father for help. They want to help you. They care for you. You are the most important thing in their life. Jesus proved it by going to the cross on your behalf. You can trust him.
Lord Jesus Christ, help us to cast out everything we trust instead of you from our hearts and my your Holy Spirit take up his dwelling there that we believe and trust that you and the Father will take care of us. Amen.