Is The God You Serve An Idol?

For great is The Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but The Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and glory are His sanctuary." (Psalm 96:4-6 NIV).

When I read this again, I was reminded of all those naysayers--the ones who choose not to believe The God of heaven, who protest loudly and always insist that He is just a god like the others.

Let's examine the other gods for a moment--the gods made by hands--symbolizing all manner of things that mere mortal at one time, could not explain. The gods that man created by carving images in wood, out of wood and in stone and out of stone--the gods who could not have been created by the hands of man, if God had not created the substance from which they were (and are) made. There images of sun gods, moon gods, rain gods, fertility gods, seed gods, water gods, death gods, heroic gods, jealousy gods, strength gods, intellectual gods, all kinds of gods and yet not one of them has ever created anything from nothing.

When man could not understand the function of a volcano, they threw in virgins to appease a god who they thought was angry with them. People sacrificed children upon burning altars to appease gods they didn't understand, but thought they had some power--never realizing that true power--only comes from the God of Heaven as Elijah demonstrated with the prophets of Baal.

Even the god of this world--was created by the God of heaven--and the only power he has over anything is the evil that lurks in the hearts of men--those thoughts that people have and will not control--when the enemy speaks to their hearts, he influences what they do. This is the reason for all the senseless violence in the world today--the god of this world and his ability to influence the evil that already resides in man.

And to perpetuate the nonsense--we have people creating images that represent evil--worshipping those images that have no power to do anything but lie dormant--unless the hands of a mortal moves them.

Are we worshipping idols, yet today? Are we creating or using images made by the hands of man and giving the images more authority in our lives than the Living God?

Do we not understand that the God we serve--cannot be manipulated, moved, carted or sent anywhere for any reason because He is omnipresent--everywhere at the same time whether people believe Him or not?

Do we not understand that the God we serve--does not need us--we need Him? He created us--we did not create Him as some attempt to persuade. He is not a figment of our imaginations and His Word--though written by men, inspired by Him, is just as true today as it was hundreds of years ago.

The God of Heaven is yet speaking to people who are willing to hear and obey, but the problem is that many do not hear Him when He speaks because they have not read His Word--to even know His voice. If we don't know what He has said, we won't know what He is saying--because He never changes.

So now, think about it! True worship of God is done in the Spirit and those without the Spirit of God guiding them cannot worship God in the beauty of holiness. We don't need images, or symbols, or anything else man-made to worship God or to communicate with Him. After all, when did any of those things--create who He is?  Is the God You Serve an Idol or the Living God who desires nothing more from us, than the praise of our lips--giving adoration and obeying His Word?