Other Gods

Today's devotional is from Your Life Matters: Daily Reflections from the Psalms

"I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods" - Psalm 135:5.

The Bible is clear that there are no other gods besides Jehovah, but that doesn't mean that people don't try to make them up or create them. Those so-called 'gods' may seem to have some power, like the 'sun god' or the 'moon god,' but of course the only 'power' they have is the purpose for which God created them—and the power people decide to give them. Yet the foolish and sinful heart of man ascribes a divine nature to those created things and identifies them as gods.

Idols are not limited to nature, but can be anything to which a person attaches worshipful attention and energy, like careers, family, religious doctrine, money, and reputation. In a vision, the Lord brought Ezekiel to the Temple where he saw idolatry among the 'church' or the leaders of God's people: "He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east" (Ezekiel 8:16).

Is your heart divided? Do you worship anything or anyone other than the living God? Do you see that idols don't require you to abandon God but instead to serve them along with Him? Don't answer too quickly, but ask God to show you any unholy alliance or affection you have with any created thing that rightfully belongs to the Creator.