There is nothing more valuable (for God and us) than our relationship with the Lord. Time after time, the Bible reinforces this truth. God builds His relationships upon friendship and trust. When He possesses our heart, He jealously watches that nothing takes over His rightful place. Unfortunately, the idols we unknowingly worship prevent us from a close relationship with God. Is it possible to be free of idols; even those of which we are not aware of? I say yes for the simple reason that God searches our heart. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:10 " ...For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." Our text today is Genesis chapter 15, verse 1 and 2 where we find God expressing His heart to Abram regarding their relationship. As we will see, Abram learned a crucial lesson in this area of his faith.
When God calls us to journey with Him, our life will be filled with Divine goals and purposes waiting to be achieved. God opens the door to His Kingdom and invites us to come in. We must understand that this new Kingdom is the most joyous and safest place ever imagined. Therefore God wants to make sure that those who walk in His Kingdom know Him as friend and not as guest. I want you to see how God began to change Abram from a servant to a friend. Each one of us can go through this process because God does not change. Let’s take a closer look at what God told Abram. The Lord declared that He is a shield and Abrams exceedingly great reward (italics added). This simply means that there is no greater blessing than Himself. His Presence supercedes any desire we could have in this life. Moreover, I believe God waited for this specific time to confront Abram about his idol. Abram was in a place in his life where he began to take his eyes off of God and turned them on his own dream (a son). By being Abram’s great reward, God was trying to teach Abram that there is nothing more valuable than God Himself. Abram missed the lesson. In verse 2 we read, " But Abram said, "Lord God, what will You give, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" God remained silent, which usually isn’t a good sign. " Abram said, " look, You have not given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!" It seems like Abram was trying to get God’s attention by reminding God of His promise. In reality, Abram had an idol in his heart and God came to deal with it. God wouldn’t allow Abram’s idol to stay because He alone wanted to rule his heart. Twenty some years later, when Isaac was a young lad, "God tested Abraham, and said to him, " Abraham! Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." (Genesis 22:1,2). We know that this moment in Abraham’s life typifies God’s own sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Yeshua. However, we can also see that God wanted to deal with Abraham’s idol. This time Abraham was prepared to listen and obey. Only after he was willing to give up his only son, the Lord spoke to him through an angel and said, " Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." (Genesis 22:12).
A few years ago, as the Lord was changing my heart in regards to my relationship with Him, I came across Psalms chapter 37, verse 4. It says, "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desire of your heart." God grabbed my attention by revealing the real meaning of this verse. He asked me a simple question: "What is the desire of your heart?" If you flip this verse around, it would read, "the desire of your heart is to delight yourself in the Lord". The Lord was trying to show that the greatest desire I could ever have would be to delight myself in Him.
Friends, in conclusion, 1 Corinthians 4:4 declares, "For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord." Paul pointed out that his heart was open to God for any correction in order to be free from any idols. Even though he said that he saw no fault in what he was doing, he did not justify himself. Rather, he allowed God to scan his heart in order to get rid every idol. I hope we would come to the point in our life where we would desire God and Him alone. |
