I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.
I don’t know if the ten commandments are in order of importance or not, but I do think it says something that the very first onetold them (and us) to put nothing—and no one— before Him. No other “god” was to command their allegiance, worship, or obedience.
And then He told them why.
Because He is the one who defeated their enemy and saved them from slavery. No other god did that.
And He knew them. He knew they would need something to show them right from wrong, something that would prove their rebellious nature, so He gave them the Law. Commands He knew they would not be able to obey. And because He knew they would fall, He gave them a way to come back to Him, a way to atone and be right with Him again. And again, and again, through the sacrifice of an innocent animal.
The Old Testament is the story of a people loved and rescued by God who then continually strayed from Him. We don’t read of their habitual lying about their neighbor or wishing they could have someone else’s stuff. The story isn’t replete with people dishonoring their parents on the regular or stealing someone’s donkey.
Instead, we discover that remaining faithful to God was their number one hard thing.
There are a thousand more words I could write, but I think we can all come to our own conclusions about the similarities between us and the first ones called God’s people. So rather than a bunch of statements, I’m going to ask all of us a few questions.
? Is there anything that has slipped into the position of “first” in my life? Anything that is challenging my faithfulness to God and to His Word?
? Are there other “gods” that have become acceptable to me? The pursuit of money or fame (likes, follows, a stage). The obsession with anything, including self, that isn’t God. The desire to keep up with the crowd. The push or urge to do things my way, to control the outcome, to make it work apart from complete dependence, or waiting, on God.
? Do I look at or to myself more than God?
Questions not to be asked lightly or rushed through. And maybe the better thing is to simply sit with the Holy Spirit and ask Him to reveal the answers, to lead us to repentance, and back to full and humble submission to the Lord our God, who loved us and freed us from slavery.
Karla Jo Wasion 