Photo by Vince Fleming on Unsplash
Security and Comfort
What happens when a "godless" society values security and comfort above all else?
During the time of the Israelites, the surrounding cultures worshipped hunks of stone representing the forces of natures. Each culture had a plethora of deities at one point or another. With so many competing powers, the gods ruled with chaos and fear, always bickering. The only way to earn security was to offer repeated sacrifices to these fickle powers.
Sure, these peoples committed atrocities in the name of their gods, but perhaps in their minds the ancient gods in statue form were the safer alternative. It was better to see the god, to bring the god closer through human means.
We may not live in the heyday of Baal and Marduk, but while modern idols aren't images of stone and gold, fame and success are just as glitzy. Status and chasing relationships still pervert our identity and image as much as worshipping a cold, dead statue. Maybe goats aren't lining the altar of our lives, but what about self-worth?
What We Do to God
We measure God by human standards because that's easy and safer. Even if that in turn turns him into a distant deity who "loves" and "is merciful," at least we have a mental image of that. We can understand a smaller God, one that fits in our pocket to pull out whenever convenient. Shrinking God into a single word makes him easier to use. Distorting God makes God more... known. In an intellectual sense, of course. But, as the beaver family from Narnia puts it, God isn't safe.
We turn to idols because they're manageable and already fit into human notions. They're physical, can be held, touched, smelled, tasted (idolizing food involves tasting, after all)--the point it we know that those idols are there. We know the limits. We know how far our imagined "God" goes. He loves me and only wants the best for me. He'll never challenge me beyond my limits. We might never truly know God because then "God" is no longer safe. He becomes too big for our small pockets.
An invisible God, limitlessly powerful and a paradox to humans, doesn't fit into the formula and give a clean answer.
When trust is put in the senses, God is excluded. An outlier. Yet even if you do, in fact, believe in God, are you also erecting idols while you wait for a spiritual explosion to happen?
The Quiet Distortion
We might not even see the idols or distortions of God we make. That's the sneaky part. When the people in the image make their own images, it might feel like erecting a mirror. Suddenly our self-made image is more important than our freely given idol-ness. But why build a mirror when we're already the mirror of God? We may make our idols out of different materials, but that doesn't diminish their danger.
Why are we afraid of an unmanageable God?
A big God is scary. A pocket-sized God is scarier. If I control God, who's the real deity? Who's really in control? But maybe... that's the best part ever. We need a God bigger than us, who can care for us as the parent we all need. Our Father will guide us through the rain to help his seed grow into trees. If we had our way, we'd remain saplings because that was all we had ever been. But an uncontrollable God can calm the storm. We can't.
Why must we shrink God for our comfort when he is so much bigger than that?