Exodus 20:3-4 ~ NO other gods!

Photo: Myshilohranch, Quote: God
My meager attempt to capture the feel, of Lord's very first commandment to Moses!

I have been so impressed and in awe of the "BIGness" of the LORD speaking audibly to Moses, the RHEMA delivered by the Author Himself to Moses, Personally! WHOA! ... I am undone to think of it!

The closest thing that I can relate to, was standing on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon earlier this year (below). The Presence of God was SO palpable that you could almost hear Him whisper. He definitely spoke to us in His still small voice. If He spoke right out loud to us there, surely we would have just ceased to be! No wonder "Enoch walked with God and he was not ... !" (Genesis 5:24) I know: God actually took Enoch ... but still ...

How important must keeping this commandment be; for Him to make it the very first??!! Serious business here ... and He wants us to know it! Our God wants a very personal and monogamous relationship with us! That, my friends, is very clear!

Seems like it should be easy to keep that relationship going, doesn't it? Given how much He loves us? However, it is not easy, nor does reciprocating His love come naturally to us. The Israelites totally forsook their relationship with God within a mere 40 day period ... and they had just HEARD His voice in PERSON!

The New Testament tells us that we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Moses surely did his share of fear and trembling, so did the Israelites ... what happened? Do we no longer tremble? Do we need Old Testament "shock and awe" again?

Several times on our road trip, my granddaughters and I spoke of how very small we felt in the midst of the places we visited. How could anyone ever think too highly of themselves, up next to these ancient and humongous rocks??? We are but the size of a very small boulder in Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, or Sedona ... in the universe, even smaller! YET, God loves each one of SO much ... enough to die, just for us!

See the tiny little white thing in lower right corner? It is a person.

We pick up our study in Exodus 20: (bold/color emphasis is mine)

:3 You shall have no other gods before Me.

:4 You shall not make4 unto you any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:

That should about cover every single thing included in verse 1, as in NO other gods! Exactly what part of NO do we not get?

We are commanded not to make anything to come before Him! What, in this whole wide world, could be more important ... or urgent than making God "Numero Uno" in our life? Unfortunately, I still find myself getting totally distracted and often let other things take my attention off of HIS plan for me. *hangs head in shame* I thought I was doing good on this one ... no "idols" in my house! What I did no know is that idols are not all made of stone, wood, and metal ... , granted, getting rid of those is a good start!

Satan is sneaky and insidous. If he can distract us and get us to break God's First Commandment, the others are a piece of cake! Fortunately, the opposite also works: if we focus on keeping God's "first thing first" ... obeying His others will be easier too!

I generally don't care to be too involved with anything that lives in the earth beneath us; most are disgusting looking or mean! ... much less things that may exist in the water that runs under the earth!!!! Blechhh at the thought! ... so, I should be "fine." ... really?

Well ... we don't have statues or images of devils, demons or foreign gods. Please, no judgements here ... and none intended ... we may have a picture of Jesus and, well, an angel or two, at Christmas mostly ... and a bunny and uh eggs, at Easter ... but we don't worship these images .... now wait a minute ...

Maintaining my relationship with God as my Number One Priority is the main point ...

Excuse me, I have to go to my prayer closet and repent ... again

*Short study due to limited posting time ... ahem

Oh Dear Father, I am SO sorry

for not keeping Your commandments.

Thank You for providing Jesus to do what I can never do,

to atone for my sin and fufill all of Your Law.

I am humbled and thankful that You love me that much.

Please keep me keenly aware of Your Presence in all I do.

Open my ears to hear Your voice

my eyes to see You

my heart to obey You

Don't let me get too busy or distracted

Set my priorities

according to Your will

Never let me put any thing before You!

I LOVE You Lord

You are my God

I am Yours completely and always

Amen

I am blessed every day with some new revelation of God's Word.

I will be sharing my measure of manna with all who come to my "tent.

Please, let me know if you have been blessed

by the way it was prepared for you this day.

~Shalom~