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4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Exodus 20:4-6

Ah, yes. The Ten Commandments. The receiving of these was a monumental time in history. For the Israelites, these commands from the Lord God Himself became the foundation of their law and rules to live by. They still apply to us today, and God desires us to live by them and keep them. Jesus referred to the commands (see Matthew 5:27-48), taking them to the level of the heart in this age. Jesus expounded upon adultery and murder, but I would like to focus on idolatry.

1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
7 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
Exodus 32:1-8 (emphasis mine)

Not too long after the Lord God gave Moses the Commandments, Israel went ahead and made an idol! Instead of patiently waiting for God’s timing and trusting that Moses was safe they made a calf and bowed down to it. Seems kind of silly, doesn’t it? You might remember what happened to them after this: they went right into the wilderness for forty years. The consequences were pivotal.

That was our example way back when. I’d like to share a more current-day stance on the issue of idolatry, as not many people in the western world bow down to physical idols. This is from Sandie Freed’s powerful book, Breaking the Threefold Demonic Cord:

“To bow down means to give superiority or reverence to another being. In other words, we listen to the words of another being or honor another voice above God’s. How many times have we listened to the voice of the enemy? How often do we heed what the devil says about us and exalt his words above what God has said? It we exalt Satan’s words over God’s, then we are bowing down to a false image. Dear ones, this is a form of idolatry!

…If we have embrace any image of God that is not truly who He says He is, then we are bowing down to a false image.”

So you can see that anything in our lives that is held in higher esteem than the Lord and what His Word says, then we are bowing down to a false image and holding that higher in our life. All of us struggle with this in different areas. However, let us desire to the utmost to bring every thought into the captivity of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

I want to encourage each and every person to think about their life. Take a good, hard look. Here are some thoughts to consider:

It’s not a widespread topic to keep God at number one in our lives. It’s too easy in the complacency of life to allow certain things to run us … money, family, jobs, friends, work, etc. It might not be an image or a statue, but how often do we bow down to these and worship them in the sense of allowing them to run our lives?

Where has the honor gone in keeping the Lord in the first and foremost place? Busyness and activity tend to take over stillness and rest.

May we keep Him first in our love, time, money, and everything. By obeying Him to the fullest, loving Him above anyone and anything in our lives, He will make us successful and bless us in all of our ways.