Josiah

Day 10

Tearing Down the Idols

Josiah broke down the scared poles and the carved cast images.
(2 Chronicles, NRSV)

Josiah had been on the throne of Judah twelve years when he began a crusade to eradicate idolatry from the land. The scriptures tell us of the determination of the young king. He was intense. He was zealous. He was thorough. To put it bluntly, Josiah was a one-man wrecking crew! Josiah understood the ageless truth that God will have no rivals. He realized that as long as the nation of Judah flirted with false gods, they would never know the blessings of the one true God. Christians in modern cultures often think of idolatry as quaint ancient curiosity or a superstitious practice found only among primitive peoples. Wrong! Idolatry thrives today in the most sophisticated societies on earth. An idol is anything or anyone that comes to take the place of God in our lives. If we give our devotion and commitment and energy to a human relationship, a job, a possession, a skill, or an activity, rather than to God, we are living just as idolatrously as the pagans of old. Ask the Spirit of God to show you anything in your life that has come between you and your heavenly Father. Then ask God for the courage to do whatever it takes to remove the obstacle. Tear down the idols in your life, with God’s help.

What is God saying to you right now? Jot down those thoughts and pray them back to Him.

This devotion was taken from: The One Year Life Lessons from the Bible; July 10; by Neil S. Wilson