No Other Gods

“You shall have no other gods before me.”

That was the first commandment God gave Israel at Mt. Sinai. When we think about those words in context, it should be a no brainer; why would they want any other gods? Every single Israelite knew nothing except life in Egypt, and the dozens of gods of the Egyptians. They were monotheistic, but the Egyptians behind them and the Canaanites before them were polytheistic. The Lord knew the temptation would come to follow the gods of the pagans around them, but think for a minute about what Yahweh had done for them.

First, He led them out of slavery. We know about the Ten Plagues sent to the Egyptians, but don’t forget that Israel was spared from the plagues. That action of God showed He could handle Israel’s enemies and at the same time be their protector. Second, God did not leave them on their own after the tenth plague, but instead supernaturally guided them as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. Third, when Pharaoh was bearing down on them, God parted the Red Sea for Israel, then drowned Egypt by sending the water back down.

On the way to the Promised Land Israel was attacked by the cowardly Amalekites, who tried to pick off the women and children and elderly. These lifelong slaves who knew nothing of war were able to fend off the professional pirates, for as long as Moses’ arms were in the air, Israel was victorious over Amalek. God continued to provide for them by sending manna from heaven and water from a rock. So when He began the Ten Commandments by saying to have no other gods besides Him, it should have been an easy decision. The gods of the Egyptians were humiliated by Yahweh, and the Israelites would do well to keep their trust in Him.

The provisions of God in our own lives might not always seem as miraculous, but James reminds us that every good gift in our lives comes from Him (1:17). When we remember that He keeps our hearts beating and our lungs breathing, and the million other blessings in our lives, why would we want any other god besides Him? If Jesus is not the Lord of your life, call out to Him today for the greatest gift of all—the salvation of your soul. If you have already been saved, thank Him for the many blessings in your life today.  

The Horizon

Charles Spurgeon once told the about “the man who preached so well and lived so badly that when he was in the pulpit everybody said he ought never to come out again, and when he was out of it they all declared he never ought to enter it again.” The pastor is rightly expected to practice what he preaches, but the admonition to holy living is not limited to the man in the pulpit; all Christians should understand they are called to live a life that is set apart. 

That is why Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers to “come out from among them and be separate…and do not touch the unclean thing (2 Corinthians 6:17).” The Greek work translated as separate is haphorizo, from where we get our English word horizon. While we may typically think of the horizon as referring to something off in the distance (as in “something good is coming over the horizon”), that is not what the word means. According to the dictionary, horizon is “the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky.” The horizon, then, is what separates two things. 

Followers of Jesus have been called to be the horizon—completely separate from the world. I believe the church never has more to offer the lost world than when the church looks least like the world. Pastors in particular and Christians in general seem to be embracing this tendency to look like the world instead being the horizon. But separation isn’t limited to just the negative; it is not only about what we are separated from, but also what we are separated to. In Romans 1:1 Paul introduced himself as an apostle “separated unto the gospel of God,” and it is the same word haphorizo again. We need to be the horizon, separated from this evil world, and set apart in a positive way to live our lives for the Father. Let’s be that something good people can see over the horizon.

The Wrong Perspective

The Florida Gators softball team was a contender to win the National Championship (as usual), but a bad call doomed them in the Women’s College World Series. The Gators were leading UCLA 4-1, but the Bruins loaded the bases with only one out. A fly ball popped up near the third base dugout served as the second out, and the runner on third tagged up and headed for home; the throw from the short stop to the catcher was in time, and the runner was tagged out two feet from home plate, ending the scoring threat.

Except the home plate umpire called her safe. The next pitch was a three-run homer that gave UCLA a 5-4 lead instead of a 4-1 deficit. The problem was the ump was way out of position, having darted toward third base to make sure the runner properly tagged up. When the tag at home was applied, the umpire was sprinting towards the action but was unable to see what happened. It was an egregious blunder that spoiled Florida’s season, and college softball has not yet adopted a replay system.

The umpire was trying to do his job, but he was out of position and left with the wrong perspective. When we have the wrong perspective we make wrong decisions. We usually end up with the wrong perspective when we view life horizontally instead of vertically. It is much easier to view life from our perspective, but it takes maturity to see things from God’s point of view. When things do not go our way we may be tempted to become upset, or even blame God, but the wise Christian learns that many of our inconveniences are opportunities to grow, to become more like Jesus, or to minister to someone else.

James wrote that believers should “Count it as pure joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness (1:2).” If you are going through a hard time right now, try to find a lesson that can be learned, or a way to use it to help someone else. If you find yourself having a pity party, maybe you just have the wrong perspective.

Bigger Than the Boogie Man

When we interpret the Bible it is important to get inside the mind of the human author of a passage, as well as the minds of the original audience. Much of the language of the prophets and psalmists, for example, assumes the reader understands certain things. If I were to use an expression such as “Get out of town,” you would probably understand that to mean something like “You’re kidding!” No one would think I was commanding the reader to pack a bag and get on a bus; I am assuming that the expression is understood, and is not to be taken literally.

Some of that colorful language makes its way into Scripture. While we take the Bible literally (as in “literally true”), we also need to recognize figures of speech that should not be taken literally. Consider Psalm 74:12-15:

For God is my King from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by your strength; you broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. You broke open the fountain and the flood; you dried up mighty rivers.

Did God actually break the heads of sea serpents? Did He break Leviathan (a dinosaur) into pieces and feed him to people? When did He dry up mighty rivers? And why would He?

Interpreting the colorful language of the Old Testament is like observing an oil painting; get too close and you will miss the big picture. We need to step back and ask, “What is the author trying to say?” With Psalm 74 we do well to know that Mesopotamian and Canaanite literature frequently elevated their gods based on how they handled the forces of chaos. A classic example is how the ancient god Marduk rose in power after defeating the goddess of the ocean (in the text Enuma Elis). Against this backdrop Asaph described God in Psalm 74 as a destroyer of the feared sea serpent and Leviathan (most likely a plesiosaur), a deity strong enough to dry up a mighty river. The sea serpent might not mean much to us, but this would be like telling a child today, like the VeggieTales have, that “God is bigger than the boogie man.”

What is the author trying to say? God is all-powerful, at the absolute top of the pecking order; beside Him there is none else. There is no reason to fear because if God is for us, who can be against us? We should certainly want to know that we are on God’s side.