Have you ever noticed that sometimes we start with the best of intentions only to see it spin out of control and become something that is not what we started with? Sound mysterious? Consider the following: Gideon had led the people of Israel to rebel against and break away from their tormentors, the Midianites. We remember the story, or at least part of it.
God found Gideon threshing wheat in a winepress for fear that the Midianite raiders would find him and steal his food again. God met him at the winepress and told him that he would lead a rebellion against his oppressors. Gideon questioned how that could be so and God showed him by consuming his sacrifice. The first step was destroying his father’s idols. The next step was to select an army. Since Gideon was unsure of the plan, God allowed him to put out a fleece to discern that God was actually calling him to lead.
Gideon called together an army of 32,000 soldiers. This seemed like nothing in the face of the 130,000 he was facing. God told him he had too many soldiers because they might think they actually won. He sent 22,000 home because they were fearful or unsure of themselves. God thinned the army down even further after they got a drink of water. There were 300 left.
God sent a dream to the Midianites and gave them the interpretation that Gideon would conquer them. When Gideon and his warriors, broke pitchers, shouted, and let their lamps shine, God routed the enemy. Gideon and Israel chased the Midianites until they were destroyed and could no longer harass Israel.
To celebrate the victory, the people asked for Gideon to become their king. Gideon refused and told them they only had room for one king. God was their King. He asked them for their earrings and made a golden ephod out of it. (An ephod is kind of like a shirt or jacket.) Gideon set this ephod up as a way of celebrating God’s victory over the Midianites. As time went by, the ephod went from a memorial to a good luck charm to physical representation of God. Finally, the people actually bowed before the ephod and worshipped it. What had started as a good thing to celebrate God’s victory had turned into a snare that trapped them and incurred a return of God’s wrath as they broke the second commandment not to have any graven images to worship. (You can read about this in Judges 7 and 8.)
You and I may do these same things. For instance, you see others have a lot of fun on vacation with their jet skis or boat. You save and responsibly purchase a boat, jet ski, or water bike. You go on vacation and have a blast. Family memories are created, and you have hours of enjoyment. Then, you decide that you need to get your money out of the investment, so you start taking more trips to the lake on weekends. At first, you go Friday night and stay all day Saturday, but you make sure you get home in time to get in bed on Saturday. Before you know it, you are coming back on Sunday morning in your lake clothes and are half-asleep and exhausted. Then, you realize you can just watch the service on your phone and get more time in at the lake. Before you know it, you have skipped watching the service for a few weeks, the summer is coming to a close and you begin to feel distant from Jesus and His bride, the Church. A blessing from God has turned into an idol that is drawing you away from the One Who blessed you with it.
There could be a lot of other examples, but this one shows what can happen. It might be kids’ sports, a timeshare, season tickets to a sports team, family time, or any other of a plethora of options, but the result can become the same. This is why we need to stay in contact with Jesus, His Church, and His Word regularly so that we don’t have room for idols and can be corrected when they invade.