So far we’ve seen what led to this discussion between God and the nation of Israel in the desert at Mt. Sinai (see the last few posts here, here, here and here).
In Exodus 20, God is about to outline the ‘recipe’ for staying in this positive space of God’s blessings. One friend called the 10 commandments the 10 alignments – how to stay aligned and in relationship with God.
The first commandment sounds like something a god would say. “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2) This sounds normal – one would understand that most gods would want to be the Supreme. But what does it mean to have another god before God? The Israelites lived in a poly-theistic world. In other words, every nation around them had their own set of gods – and each god had their own forte. The people who lived in the land God was taking the Israelites to worshipped Molech, Baal and Asherah, to name a few. It was common in most societies of the day to appease the god that was an expert in your area of frustration. So, if you needed fertility, go to Asherah, etc.
Today, we have different gods that we tend to put before God. You might call them:
- popular wisdom (what “should” be)
- other people’s opinion
- independence
- my own thoughts and abilities
- pulling myself up by my bootstraps
- try harder
Many good things, like our schedule or calendar etc. can morph into “other gods” if we aren’t careful to first go to God and let Him have total control. What other ‘gods’ would you add to this list? Comment below.
Interestingly, God does not spend any time refuting the divinity of the other gods of this time. Instead, He just says “put me first.”
How might our lives be different if we just knew how to talk to God first and not try to fix things on our own, turning to Him only when we are truly stuck?
What gods might you be relying on instead of going to God first?
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