God Among Other Gods

2 Kings 17:28-33

So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

This story is about the origin of the Samaritan people that the Jews came to hate so very much that they would not even talk to each other. The hatred became so profound that a woman beside a well would be shocked that a Jewish man would talk to her, at least until she discovered that he was Messiah.

What's creepy about this story is that it paints a picture of what can happen to anyone when they do not make a clear choice to trust God. These people believed in God - they had a priest come and teach them about God and taught them how to fear God. They believed in the Great I Am, and they feared him.

But they also feared others.

The believed in God, but they didn't believe that He was the one true God. They believed he was truly God, but that others were just as true. Nibhaz and Tartak had just as much claim on true divinity as Yahweh. Even bloodthirsty Adrammelech and Anammelech, who drank the blood of their children, were as worthy of worship in their minds as was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

How very post modern of them. They didn't want to offened any sensibilities or any dieties by making any exclusive truth claims. One God is as real as another, and we all are really on the same spiritual path going to the same places. We shouldn't tie ourselves down to one truth or one God. Yahweh, Allah, Kami, Brahman, Adrammelech, Jesus - all are equally valid.

Except, of course, that they are not equal. Each of these Gods expects different things of His/Its followers. Yahweh and His son Jesus call people to a life lived in love of Him and love of others. Adrammelech calls for his followers to sacrifice their children to him. These are clearly not the same Gods, and adherance to these very different belief systems results in people doing different things and becoming very different people.

God does not put up with this. He will not be one among many. He calls for our allegiance to Him and to HIm alone.

He knows very well that we need HIm and HIm alone. If He were to let us have our own gods, we would destroy ourselves with them. We would feed them our children, hoping that they would protect us.

We American's are very sophesticated people - we would never dream of having a false God to which we would sacrifice our children. Except perhaps for the god of Wealth and Economic Security that we worship with the hours of our lives and love more than our families. We are willing to give up our families for this god. Or perhaps the god of adventerous adultery - we will happily feed our children's wellbeing to this god, and tell them it is none of their business what we do with our private time. Or the lying god of eternal good health. Or the god of entertainment. Or a thousand other secular gods that America worships.

This text is frightening to me, because it is not that the people here do not believe in God. They do. They trust him. They fear him. They even send for a priest to teach them how to fear God correctly.

But they have brought their own gods into the relationship as well. They want God's protection, but they want to hedge their bets and make sure that the other gods are pulling for them too.

I believe in God, but I still want a good portfolio to care for my old age years. I trust God, but I still want an extensive education to prove to myself and to others that I am competent. When I get sick, I pray, but my first thought is of medicin and doctors. I trust God to provide for me, but I still have insurance.

I suppose some of that is just being responsible. But how much of it is a lack of faith in the one God and too much faith in other gods?

Perfect Peace

Isaiah 26:3 [ESV]

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.

How do I do that? How do I get my mind to stay on Him?

There is so much that distracts me. And the louder it all gets, the less peace I have.

And yet in the middle of the loudest cacophony, the craziest chaos, the wildest life-storm, if I will just let my heart rest in His direction, I am overwhelmed with a relief-bringing flood of peace. If I will just trust Him, I can rest no matter how awful things are or what threats I face.

Because He is able to give me quietness of heart and mind, relaxation of tight muscles, steadiness in my belly, and open hands instead of clenched fists. Grinding of teeth is a behavior of those in hell, not at rest in the presence of God.

I have felt Him come crashing down on me with His peace before. There have been times when I have thought, “I can’t do this! I am not strong/smart/good/competent enough to get through this!” And in that terror, I turn to God and give that fear to Him, and He comes wading into my heart like a warrior to liberate me from my fears. He crushes them – the dragons of my heart – like bugs.

He is my peace. My only hope of being the man I want to be is in Him.

If I will trust Him, and take the time to seek Him, He will give me peace.

His peace He will leave with me. He does not give as the world gives. I must not let my heart be troubled, neither should I let it be afraid.

Perfect peace. That’s surely worth the time it takes to pray

My Foolish But Seeking Heart

Psalm 53:1-2 [English Standard Version]

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.

2 God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.

We are all of us fools. There is not one human person born who does not make this dreadful mistake.

I believe in God, but there are times when I don't.

It isn't that I stop believing in him logically. In fact, aside from one faith struggle I went through in college, I don't think there has been a time when I've really doubted the existance of God. I know he's real.

But if I look at my behavior, I have to conclude that there are times when my heart doesn't believe what my head knows is true. It isn't so much that I think with my head, "I chose not to believe in God." It's that my heart decides, "I don't want to do what is right, I want to do this instead."

I think this is the way of fallen people - we may want to believe in God, but we just don't do it all the time. Not when we are acting out our sinfulness, because if we believed in an Almighty, God, we would never treat people the way that we do. His wrath would terrify us! We would never dare to act on our lusts, or lash out in anger, or decieve people, or take what is not ours to take. We wouldn't do these things if we believed in God in our hearts, because fear of him would keep us from it. Even if the love of God did not inspire us to behave ourselves, the terror of him would do it.

But we don't really believe. We think we can get away with it. We think that if he exists at all, he'll wink at our evil misbehavior, and give us a pass. Our hearts decide that God is not God, and it won't really matter.

And God watches all this unbelief, searching our hearts and minds and behaviors to see if there is anyone who realizes what this unbelief is doing to us. Do any of us really understand our state? Is there anyone on earth who comprehends what sin does to us, the distortion and death it brings into us, and the estrangement from Him.

And is there anyone who will turn from all that mess and try to find Him again?

If you don't know God, the idea of him looking down from heaven is a pretty creepy picture - an All-powerful Being watching us to see what we are going to do, and perhaps trying to decide how best to kill us.

But if you do know God, then it isn't scarry. It's hopeful.

To think that God has not given up. To think that even though I acted like I didn't believe in Him, He has not stopped believing in me. He's looking for me, to see if I will look for him.

This Psalm leaves it up in the air - if I do seek him, what then? Will that matter? If I have acted in ways that say "there is no God," will he let me come back from that?

And this is where I think of Jesus promise to me - If I will seek, I will find. God is there to be found, and because of the cross, I am not so alienated from Him that He cannot bring me back.

If we will seek him, his salvation waits for us.