Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God has made this new people. And he will make for himself a people who will praise the wonders of his mighty love. He is the Creator-the one above all that there is. They did in Israel’s history, and in ours.īut the Lord made the heavens.
Nevertheless, these “gods” get a lot of attention. Of course, there is no such thing as real gods, as the apostle Paul reminds us (1 Corinthians 8:4 10:20 Galatians 4:8). The concept behind idols, demons, and gods is the same. Notice the interplay between “idols” and “demons” (see also the switch in Deuteronomy 32:17 between “gods” and “demons”). They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons.” Psalm 106:36 tells us, “They served their idols, which became a snare to them. It might be our time or our money, maybe our love or our thoughts, maybe even our families or our friends. If we forsake the true worship of the Lord then we’ll hoist up the false worship of a fake deity. Turning away from God always leads to turning toward something else. Here we learn that apostasy always leads to idolatry. Later, speaking to that same group, Moses foresees Israel’s future and gives the grimmest picture of their faithlessness (Deuteronomy 32:17–18). You shall love the Lᴏʀᴅ your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Hear, O Israel: The Lᴏʀᴅ our God, the Lᴏʀᴅ is one. This same warning against idolatry is also the foundational command in the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:6–7).Įven more than that, Israel’s identity-shaping rallying cry-the Shema-is passionately opposed to the slightest idea that it’s okay to worship anything other than God himself. Moses warns the assembly over and over against idolatry (Deuteronomy 4:15–18 25–26). It goes back to Deuteronomy, just before Moses died and the people enter the Promised Land with Joshua. In fact, the story of Israel throughout the Old Testament is riddled with their fundamental inability to live faithfully under God’s supremacy. The truth is that this common sense command was rarely lived out in the history of Israel. He says the gods of the people are worthless idols, but the Lord, well, the Lord made the heavens.īut this is not as simple as it sounds. The psalmist actually makes this point crystal clear by comparing God to the “gods of the peoples” we’re so prone to chase. Nothing outside of him has a right to our worship. He is more valuable that every other object of our affections. God is great and worthy of our praise because he is greater than all the idols that litter this world. The rest of the verse just explains why that’s the case. It’s really simple: we should praise God because he is great and worthy of our praise. Nothing compares to the promise I have in you. I sing for joy at the work of your hands. Every breath, all that I am, never cease to worship you. My comfort, my shelter, tower of refuge and strength. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lᴏʀᴅ made the heavens. For great is the Lᴏʀᴅ, and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods.
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