Saturday, May 24, 2008

Ridding myself of the "with" gods

I am loving my (albeit, very slow) trek through the Old Testament. This morning's "stop-and-meditate" verse was Exodus 20:23.

"You shall not make gods of silver to be with Me."

I've always known, "You shall not have any other god before Me" and "You shall not worship any other god besides Me," but here He says: "You shall not make gods to be WITH Me." The NIV reads, "alongside Me."

On a good day, I may not worship something or someone else more than God, but I'm sorely tempted (on a regular basis) to worship a few other things and people right alongside of Him. To make them equal with Him, as if He could ever have an equal.

In Psalm 50:21 God says, "You thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you."

Lord, You have no equal. Make my thoughts of you BIG today. Enlarge my heart to have HUGE emotions for You. Far outweigh my other loves, commitments, desires, and thoughts. Only then will other gods lose their power.