There shall be no strange god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. (Psalm 81:9-10)
When Israel assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai before the Lord, the first thing He said to them was, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,” which was followed by the command, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:2-3). The very first instruction given to them was to acknowledge that He was their God — not the false, nothing gods they had observed and worshiped while in Egypt. The principle presented to us is, if we will acknowledge that He is our Master, then we will not acknowledge, much less bow, to any other who claims to be master.
I would imagine that few of us, if any, have idols in our house to which we pay homage and allegiance. However, I would argue that most of us — if we are honest with ourselves — struggle being as faithful to our Creator as we are to ourselves. In other words, our greatest struggle is conquering our own flesh; if we defer to another master, it is likely to be the person we see in the mirror each morning. It is on that note that I will point out what our Jewish friends have to say about the verse above and the distinction made between the “strange god” and the “foreign god.” The former is regarded as the undisciplined carnal inclination within us; the latter is the false gods worshiped by the nations.
If we follow this line of interpretation we are to conclude that we must first overcome our own will and desire — the internal enemy — if we hope to overcome our external foes. I have often said that my greatest concern in these last days is not who the AntiChrist is or what he might do; my greatest concern, indeed my greatest adversary, is the man in the mirror. How can I hope to overcome the world if I can not keep my carnal inclination in check? If we allow our carnal nature to rule us, it will eventually control our external actions and we will bow to the gods of this world.
The reality is, of course, that none of us in and of ourselves has the power or will to deny ourselves what we want. On the other hand, when we become a new creation in Messiah, we are empowered to overcome self and submit our will to His. We can do all things through Messiah who strengthens us which includes having the power to overcome our own selfish desires. In turn, by the power of His Spirit and the authority of His Word, we can overcome the world because, as He said, “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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