The Idolatry of God Moments
When the most clear indication of God sweeping in and placing an awesome or inspiring moment in your life arises, it is easy to fall into a trap of idolatry.
Yeah.
Were we to live our lives hanging off of one mountainous high to the next, we'd soon lose sight of God in our dependency on God moments. And far too many of us do.
In John 6, where Jesus feeds the multitude, it follows that He is crowded by people seeking further blessings from Him. They are clamouring for more bread. But in recognising this mixed reaction to his "God moments", Jesus clarifies what they should truly hunger for (John 6:26, 27, 35):
26Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
27Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
35And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Our greatest example of one that would do the opposite - being faithful to God even when He is apparently absent - is Job. He praised God even in an empty, pained phase of existence. The reality is that it is unsafe for amazing, intense moments of spiritual inspiration, of divine intervention, of those "yes!" days where the blessings seem like they're pouring down - it is unsafe for these to be our joy. Our joy is the blesser, not the blessing. Or at least it should be. But we get tiresome when the God moments cease - we get complacent on the duty and journey of the Christian walk. We cry out "why me?". We become angry with God.
Herein, we make God an idol. To clarify, it is wise if we are to idolise anything, that it be God and God alone. However the way we treat other idols in our lives is not how we should treat God. The devotion to or obsession with an idol - sure. But We normally idolise people, places, things, experiences in order to get something from them. In order to have a sense of importance, in order to feel fulfilled. This race for significance and personal gain stops short of the finish line, however. And it is the same when we idolise God in a way that is for personal gain. For the aha moments. For the church chatter on a Sabbath morning. For the relationship or marriage that was "equally yolked".
So what happens when God, our idol, does not deliver on these things? Or what happens when He does, but we devote ourselves to the blessings rather than He who we receive them from? God is not a Buddha whose belly we rub for good luck and safe keeping of our family. God is our creator, our maker, the source of all lovingkindness and beauty. He desires and deserves our faithfulness and we should respond to His mere existence rather than the inspiration moments in our lives.
We will learn mighty lessons from God withholding His hand. We will learn mighty lessons from a drought season in our lives. When our rational calculations and our feelings about God cease, there our faith begins. And we recognise that it is God's strength and God alone that will satisfy the innermost desire of our hearts (Psalm 73:25).
In darkness, in light. In inspirational outpourings or inspirational droughts. We should love He who first loved us (1 John 4:19).
