Weapons of the Heart – The Pitfalls of Subtle Idolatry
“He is either your God or your husband. But he cannot be both.”
Her Story
A little while back, I was talking with a friend about one of her first encounters hearing the voice of God. She told me the story of her first marriage and how her husband had fallen into multiple adulterous relationships. This went on for years.
According to my friend she had married very young. In fact, when she discovered she was pregnant, her parents granted her permission to marry as a teenager. Since her husband was a number of years older than her, he took advantage of her naivety. By the time she reached her twenties, she had three children and a nonexistent marriage.
Here she was a young woman with three small children, limited education and no income. The fear of not having their needs met was constant. She was always looking for her husband to tell him what they needed. We need food. The rent needs to be paid. The baby needs diapers. Can you pay the electric bill, and on and on. This begging, nagging, pleading became the pattern of their relationship.
Eventually, she went back to school. Around that same time she met Christ and began to cultivate a relationship with God. And the children grew as well. The two older kids were in elementary school. And the baby was two.
One day after a particularly difficult struggle financially, she called her husband and asked if he could provide some money for food and if he was going to pay the rent. He became irate yelling, “I’m the man! You don’t tell me what to do!” In a final surge of absolute frustration, afraid that they were not going to have a roof over their heads and no food, she cried out to God. The word the Lord spoke to her was striking.
He said, “He is either your God or your husband but he cannot be both.”
Is He Your God or Your Husband?
My friend explained. What I realized, she said was that I was constantly thinking about my husband. He was always in my head. I was wondering where he was, who was he with? I was ruminating about what he was or was not doing. This man was occupying my thoughts more than God. And that’s when I realized, I had made him my idol.
I was looking to him to supply the things we needed as if he was my husband. In reality my husband was long gone. What money he did acquire he spent on other women. I had to realize that my children were now my responsibility. I was the provider for my family. And if I wanted help from God, I had to stop giving all of my heart’s attention to a man who had rejected me and abandon his family.
So I turned my face to God and trusted him to provide for us. My instruction from the Lord was do not ask the man who once was my husband for any resource. I had to trust God to meet our needs.
And God was faithful. Slowly, I built a financial infrastructure for my family. I got my degree and God prospered me.
What is Subtle Idolatry?
As I think of her story, I’m reminded of Exodus 20:3, the first commandment, Thou shall have no other gods before me. KJV Most of the time when we think of idols, we think of material objects that people worship. But an idol is more than a physical object. And idol is anything, other than God, that occupies the throne of our heart; Even if that occupation manifest itself by negative rumination or thinking about that person and what they are supposed to do for us. Excessively thinking about someone makes them your focus. You turn thoughts about the person over in your mind.
Rumination comes from the verb ruminate, which means “to think deeply.” It means “to chew the cud.” Both words come from the Latin word ruminatus, which has the same meaning and which is rooted in rumen, or “gullet.” It all means deep focused thinking. Whether it’s positive or negative, if it occupies your thoughts more than God, It’s an idol.
2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; KJV
Exalt means to hold (someone or something) in very high regard; think or speak very highly of. To praise, esteem, promote, ennoble etc. And I might add that it also includes the frequency we entertain thoughts of that person.
Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
If you want to have a genuine spiritual relationship with God, all idols must go. Getting rid of idols means that there is no room for shared attention, affections or allegiance. As Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24) our attention is an indication of who we serve. So what does it mean to love God with all of our heart, soul and might?
Loving God with All Our Heart
The heart is more than the seat of our affections. It is the place of choice and decision. Loving God with all of our heart means, allowing him to rule in the place where our decisions are made. It means to make our choices and decisions in partnership with God. Even our decision to accept Christ happens in the heart. The heart chooses to believe.
Romans 10:9-10 That if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. KJV
In the same way, my friend was choosing to believe that a man who no longer loved her was her resource. God challenged her to make a new decision; to believe that HE would provide for her.
The heart is the control center.
Our heart dictates what the WILL DOES, what the DESIRES WANT and what IGNITES the PASSION. The heart determines the FOCUS OF our affections. Our HEART controls the lenses of our PERCEPTION. The heart is the control center of choice and decision.
This is why Solomon said Proverbs 4:20-23 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. KJV
We keep the word at center of our heart so the word can influence the will, desires, passion etc.
Loving with All Our Soul
The soul is the three seats of being. The three seats are MIND what I THINK; EMOTIONS what I FEEL and WILL what I DO. The mind is the container of the soul. The mind has 6 functions and we are to use all six functions to connect with God as we express our love to him. So we are to love God with our imagination, intuition, memory, perception, reason, and will. This explains why my friend had to choose what place to put her relationship. He no longer functioned as her husband and she had erroneously enthroned him in her thoughts.
Loving with All Our Might
What does it mean to love God with our “might”? The word translated “might/strength” in Deuteronomy 6:5 is derived from two words the first is OT:181’uwd (ood); from an unused root meaning to rake together; a poker (for turning or gathering embers): and the second is OT:3966 me`od (meh-ode’); from the same as OT:181; properly, vehemence, i.e. (with or without preposition) vehemently; by implication, wholly, speedily, etc. (often with other words as an intensive or superlative; especially when repeated): KJV – diligently, especially, exceeding (-ly), far, fast, good, great (-ly), louder and louder, might (-ily, -y), (so) much, quickly, (so) sore, utterly, very (+much, sore), well.
Pull Your Self Together
Similarly, this word reminds me of something my mother used to say when we were having a meltdown. She would look firmly in our face and say “pull yourself together”. In other words, Reach inside and rake your internal strengths into a pile and focus them into one direction as fast as you can. That is my definition of MIGHT. It is to pull all of your resolve together and to focus it on the Lord. Some might include your resources or money among the list of your resources.
Joshua 22:5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. KJV
1 Samuel 12:24 only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you. KJV
My friend expressed it well when she said, “without realizing it, I had made my husband an idol”; Her affections and focus were misplaced. In Jeremiah 29:11-13 God makes it clear that he is thinking about us. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Verse 12 further breaks down the process of avoiding subtle idolatry. Our loving father is thinking about us. Our natural response should be to call upon him. In addition, we have an advocate in Jesus who is praying for us.
And God hears. So there is no reason to beg, plead or nag. He is an ever-present help. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken (LISTEN) unto you. Our cries for help will never fall on deaf ears from the Father.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. KJV Regardless of what role people play in our lives, God’s role never changes. When we keep our affections pointed in his direction, He will forever be our object of worship.