241 Counterfeit Gods: Good Things Gone Bad

Most of us believe nothing could be better than seeing our dreams come true. In that pursuit of happiness, it never enters our minds that getting our heart’s desires could, in fact, be the worst thing that ever happened to us. Good things can go bad.

Why does getting your heart’s desire so often lead to disaster? It’s because our hearts are idol factories. We can take a good thing, indeed a gift from God, and if we’re not careful, we can end up elevating it to a place where it was never meant to be, giving it a position it was never fit for.  

An idol is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your attention and affection more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.

One of the most classic pictures of this is found in the Old Testament book of Genesis.  Abraham was born into a wealthy family of idol-worshipers. But God made him a staggering offer: if he would forsake his idols, leave his ancestral home, and follow God’s leading, the Lord would bless him beyond his wildest dreams. More specifically, this promise would be fulfilled through Abraham’s offspring. 

The problem was, Abraham had no offspring. He and his wife were childless. But he took God at His word and stepped out in faith. 

The years passed, and still, no child came. Finally, when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90, it happened. Miraculously, a son was born to them. They named him Isaac. 

From the moment of his birth, he was the delight and the idol of his father’s heart. So, “God stepped in to save both father and son from the consequences of an uncleansed love.” (Tozer)

God tested Abraham, asking him to sacrifice his son—his only son, whom he loved. The Lord knew Abraham had to deal with his idol, and as painful as that was for Abraham, the alternative would have been even more painful.   

If a person is put in the place of God, it creates an idolatrous love that will smother the person and strangle the relationship.

Abraham passed the test. He obeyed, and God stepped in, stopped Abraham, and gave him back his son.

In our lives, things will inevitably arise – even good things – that we will turn into idols.  It may be your children, your husband, wife, girlfriend, or boyfriend. It may be success in athletics, or a dream to be on the stage, or making it big in business.  

Idols demand to be fed. We will sacrifice for them, or to them. Yet they never end up delivering.

Good things can and often do go bad as we turn them into our idols.  And it’s then that God, in His mercy, calls us to a Moriah moment. 

Mark it well: It will not be easy.  The most painful of times will be when our “Isaacs” are challenged, threatened, or even removed.  

Sometimes it seems as if God is killing us when He challenges our idols.  In reality, He’s saving us.  Though it appeared that God was being excessively cruel to Abraham, in reality, God was freeing Abraham to be a great man who would become the Father of our Faith.    

Text: Genesis 22:1-18

Originally recorded on November 21, 2010, at Fellowship Missionary Church, Fort Wayne, IN