Darren Daugherty, Ph.D.
Darren Daugherty, Ph.D.

 Tuesday, May 26, 2009

 

What we saw: Tel Arad, Beer-sheba, Wilderness of Zin, Big Bowl, Bedouin Experience

 

The remains at Tel Arad create a large window through which to view the spiritual health of Judah.

 

How do people get far from God’s will after they’ve learned the truth? Why do people respond to God’s directions by saying, “I don’t really want to obey you that way. I’d rather serve you this way.”

 

For the sake of personal convenience and spiritual laziness, the people of Judah set up temples within their various cities. There was to be only one temple, but they had many. As various cities became negatively affected by the culture around them, they adopted a synchronistic  way of life. They mixed God’s law with the religious directives of the nations around them.

 

This photo shows two stones standing, which signify a common symbol of idolatry – two stones representing a male and female deity. It could be that they wanted to serve their God, but wanted Him to have a female companion like the god Ba’al’s companionship with Ashtoreth. This was in violation to God’s law, yet it seems that it was the practice.

 

I often tell my children to be careful how we use the word “love.” Jesus commands us to love God and people. Americans use the word for almost anything, to the point where it has lost its significance. I am not suggesting that misusing the word “love” is a sin. I simply believe that it is indicative of a culture which allows anything to be an idol.

 

We all set up idols in our lives – something which receives our affections in place of God. We are human, and we have sinful natures. The difference between us and the people at Tel Arad is that we regularly ask God to help us locate the idols in our lives in order that we can purge the “land” of wickedness. Still some harden their hearts toward God as they cling more tightly to their idols, eventually giving themselves totally to the idol.

 

For me, serving God is a journey which I do not walk alone. I must choose to make Him part of my life in all that I do, always mindful of the fact that if I do not have Jesus as first place in my life, then something else is first. Whichever is first is my god or God. Although I often fail, I repeatedly choose the one with a capital “G.”

Posted on Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 10:27 am Filed under Devotional, Visiting Israel and Jordan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.