Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that
is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt
not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto
thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:3-6.
Let us try and separate
one word from another for a better understands.
One: in Exodus 20:3 – God
said: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”.
The Israelites had just
come out from Egypt, a land of many idols and divers kinds of gods. Since each
gods represented a different aspect of life if was common to worship many gods
in order to get the maximum blessing. This practice is also common and prevalent
among all people of the world; Africans, Asians, oceanic’s, European and
Americans alike.
So when God told His
people to worship and believe in Him, that weren’t so hard for them – He was
just one more god to add to the list. But when He said “Thou shalt have no
other gods before me”; that was hard for them to accept. However, if they don’t
learn, believe and accept Jehovah, who led them out Egypt as the only true God,
they could not be His people—no matter how faithfully they keep the other nine
commandments.
What is God saying in
Exodus 20:3- ‘have no other gods
before me’ ?
This is the law binding
idolatry. It means that anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath that
comes before God in your life is a god to you—it is sin of idolatry and will
definitely produce a curse.
Today we can allow
certain values to become gods to us. Money, fame, work or pleasure can become
gods when placed before God.
No one sets out with the
intention of worshiping these things. But with the amount of time they occupy
in our lives, they can grow into gods that ultimately control our thoughts and
energies. Letting God hold the central place in our lives keeps these things
from turning into gods. Jesus Said: “No servant can serve two masters:
for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to
the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”. Luke 16:13. {"Mammon"
refers to riches or a false god of wealth.}
“No man may be a servant
to two masters: for he will have hate for the one and love for the other; or he
will keep to the one and have no respect for the other. You may not be servants
of God and of wealth”. Luke 16:13. (Bible in Basic English Translation)
"No servant can
serve two masters. The servant will hate one master and love the other, or will
follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and
worldly riches."(New Century Version).
The gods before God—where
God Almighty was not accorded all the glory; there, an idol is found. Who gets
your spiritual service and adoration? Who or what gets your love and affection
most? Who or what commands your hearty-followership? The answers to these
questions reveal who and what is your God or gods.
Two: “thou shall not” – SHALL – most often than not when used in the Bible
means MUST. You MUST not have any other god before God. worshiping only God is
not an option, it is a must.
“He that sacrificeth unto any god, SAVE UNTO THE LORD ONLY, he shall be
utterly destroyed”. Exodus 22:20.
“Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD
he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else”. Deuteronomy 4:39.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy might”. Deuteronomy 6:4-5.
Three: Idol worshiping
is a choice.
By faith Moses, when he
was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
Choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a season;
Esteeming the reproach
of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto
the recompence of the reward.
By faith he forsook
Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is
invisible. Hebrews 11:24-27.
Joshua admonished:
“Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth:
and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood,
and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom
ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the
other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell:
but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the
LORD, to serve other gods;” -- Joshua 24: 14-16
Idolatry or having OTHER
gods BEFORE GOD can occur as a result of the influence we allow. Some are a
victim as a result of family influence, community influence, friends’ pressure
and more. In all, God will hold you personally responsible and accountable for
all act of violation to His Law.
Moses made it clear to the Israelite saying:
Ye shall not go after
other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among
you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy
thee from off the face of the earth. Deuteronomy 6:14-15.
Moses made it clear here
that the people around you can influence you to reverence or hold high the
creature instead of THE CREATOR. Be careful with your heart that you do not
permit influences that will hurt you at the end.
Moses went further to
say:
If thy brother, the son
of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy
friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and
serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
Namely, of the gods of the people which are
round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the
earth even unto the other end of the earth;
Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken
unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither
shalt thou conceal him: Deuteronomy 13:6-8.
Look at the word
‘entice’. That is deception in disguise. Pressures from family members, friends
and society can cause you to follow after cravings that can hunt you down and
hurt you.
The book of proverbs
says; “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not”. Proverbs
1:10. When you do not say NO when you need to say No, you will Nullify God’s
blessings for you.
Apostle Paul admonished: “And
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove
them”. Ephesians 5:11.
Have no fellowship with
them. Who you fellowship with determines what you will worship. It is
followership to leads to worshiping. Who you follow determine what follows
afterward. Be careful.
Apostle Paul went further
to say: But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice
to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with
devils. 1 Corinthians 10:20.
Did you hear that? Some
people around you are having fellowship with devils. Avoid them.
Now we command you,
brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves
from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which
he received of us. 2 Thessalonians 3:6.
There are some people and
practices you need to withdraw yourself from. Do it now. Most of the things
they tell you about these other ways of making it fast is a lie from the devil.
Satan will hid the truth from you in order to entice you with superfluous vague
lies and at the end gets you to deny God and miss-out on His TRUE BLESSINGS.
As in the case of King
Ahab. A meeting was held in heaven and the following happened:
And the LORD said, Who
shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead?
And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.
Then there came out a spirit, and stood before
the LORD, and said, I will entice him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith?
And he said, I will go out, and be a lying
spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the LORD said, Thou shalt entice
him, and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so. 2 Chronicle 18:19-21.
Satan wants you go up out
of Gods way and fall in life. This he would want to achieve through spirit of lies;
who also is master of enticement. Devil
will entice you with money and riches, he will entice you with power, and he
will entice you with women (as in the case of Joseph and David). He will entice
you with beauty and wisdom and knowledge (as in the case of Eve in the Garden
of Eden). All is a lie. Satan has nothing to offer you that God has not already
given to you.
Satan want you to get to
God’s blessing by shut cuts and mostly adding your own way to Gods
way(disobedience). But God want you to get to the blessings He has for you
solely by His own way (full obedience). Either ways …. The blessing is from
only God. None from Satan. Remember: “He that spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all
things?”(Romance 8:32). God has given us all things… but we must align
ourselves WITH His provided process of procuring the blessings. Paul said to
Timothy: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches, but in THE LIVING GOD, WHO GIVETH US RICHLY ALL
THINGS TO ENJOY;” 1Timothy 6:17.
God is the source and abstainer of all the livings.
