For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink... And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, 'These are my wages that my lovers have given me.' Hosea 2:2, 12
Idolatry is an illusion! How else can you describe putting your trust in nothing, and bowing down to it with the hope that it will help you. Idols are nothing and they can do nothing; the only thing that they do is to make their worshippers stand in opposition to God. Those who worship idols are deceived. They actually believe that what is nothing can help them. Every idol is a construction of the imagination of man, whatever it may be. The idolatrous person is deceived into believing that he has gains from the idols he serves, but the truth is that idols are nothing and can give nothing but pain and misery.
Idolatry is an illusion! How else can you describe putting your trust in nothing, and bowing down to it with the hope that it will help you. Idols are nothing and they can do nothing; the only thing that they do is to make their worshippers stand in opposition to God. Those who worship idols are deceived. They actually believe that what is nothing can help them. Every idol is a construction of the imagination of man, whatever it may be. The idolatrous person is deceived into believing that he has gains from the idols he serves, but the truth is that idols are nothing and can give nothing but pain and misery.
In the thinking of idolatrous Israel, her vines and fig trees were her wages earned from the idols that she served. But God was going to destroy them to show her that all that she had came from Him. God vowed: "Therefore I will return and take away My grain in its time and My new wine in its season, and will take back My wool and My linen, given to cover her nakedness." Hosea 2:9. Notice that God ascribed to Himself everything that Israel had: the grain was His, the new wine was His, the wool was His, and the linen with which their nakedness was covered was His. In other words, all that Israel had came from God, yet, they attributed all of these to their idols. How similar we are to them in attributing to our intellect and ingenuity what only God made possible.
When we fail to recognize that all that we have come from God, there is the tendency for us to ascribe them to the idol of self. This idol, self, locks in the heart of man, making it the god that many worship in the place of God. It will amaze you to know how much we ascribe to ourselves for the things that we have received from God. It's no wonder that Jesus commanded all who will come after Him to deny self. To believe that what we have resulted from our ingenuity is to make an idol of self, and once this happens, we have given into believing in the illusion of idolatry.
When we fail to recognize that all that we have come from God, there is the tendency for us to ascribe them to the idol of self. This idol, self, locks in the heart of man, making it the god that many worship in the place of God. It will amaze you to know how much we ascribe to ourselves for the things that we have received from God. It's no wonder that Jesus commanded all who will come after Him to deny self. To believe that what we have resulted from our ingenuity is to make an idol of self, and once this happens, we have given into believing in the illusion of idolatry.
Toni
