The Idols We Nurture
Photo courtesy of Freepik
In the fifth chapter of 1 Samuel in the Bible there’s a story in which an enemy tribe steals the Ark of the Covenant from the ancient tribe of Israel during a battle. (The Ark of the Covenant was a sacred, ornate wooden chest that symbolized God's binding covenant with Israel.) As the story goes, the enemy tribe places the Ark of the Covenant in their own holy place next to the statue of their god, Dagon [1]. The next morning, it turns out that the statue of Dagon has fallen over, face down in front of the Ark. So the people set it back up. Then the next morning, in perfect slapstick humor, the statue has fallen over again, this time with its head and its hands having fallen off and lying across the threshold. The story ends by saying, “This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day” (1 Samuel 5:5). Humorous and allegorical as it is, this Old Testament story shows not only the lengths that people will go for the idols in their life, but also the power that God has to show idols for what they are.
The Lengths We Go For Idols
The word “idols” has become a commonplace word in Christian culture. Like in the story above, the term once described literal figures cast in precious metals or carved out of wood, figures that people viewed as gods of supernatural power. While it’s sometimes still used like that, the term “idol” in Christian culture today has taken on new meaning and has come to describe anything that our lives unhealthily revolve around. For some individuals, entertainment (movies, tv shows, screen time) has obtained an unhealthy level of priority in their lives. For others, it could be food, alcohol, or other substances. And for still others, a particular relationship might be gaining unhealthy levels of attention. Whatever it may be, the idols we nurture take a great deal of our headspace and our resources. Often our idols are the things that we are willing to shirk other responsibilities for, sacrificing what is otherwise good in our lives (our jobs, our sleep, self-care, time with other friends and family) in order to make more room for the idols themselves. And while we might have the illusion that we are in control, our idols often have control of us. We become slaves to them, addicted to what we think they give back to us (comfort, distraction, security, purpose, release), and we worship them with our engagement, our time, and our money. This delusion is why idols are often so difficult to get rid of.
How God Has Made Us
The overarching story of the Bible tells us that God designed us to be loved and to love, to be adored and to adore, to have worth and to worship. St. Augustine famously wrote that “the essence of sin is disordered love” [2]. We often give our love to things that can provide immediate satisfaction (an improved self-image or an escape from suffering) but aren’t able to love us back. These disordered loves—these idols—lead us to feel discontent and dissatisfied with our lives. If you are considering whether something has become an idol in your own life, ask yourself these questions: “Are you content with the amount of time, money, and energy you’re spending on that thing? Has it led you to become more healthy or less? When you try to go without it, how do you feel?” Every sin has its unintended side-effects, and the side-effects of devotion to idols is that they don’t deliver on their promises. Instead of loving you back, they make you feel empty and purposeless, like you have no idea where your life is going or if it matters at all.
Making Idols Fall
What this vignette from 1 Samuel 5:1-5 shows us is that God has the power to bring these idols crashing down. In fact, it is only the power of God that ultimately gets rid of these idols. And if we are sticking with the notion that sin is about “disordered love,” then it is only a great love that we have for God and the great love he has for us that triumphs over our idols. Not new behaviors, not new thoughts or new spiritual techniques, but a new love. When God has our affection, attention, priority, and our ultimate love, that’s when the idols in our lives lose their power and fall prostrate at the feet of God.
Sources:[1] Got Questions Ministries. Who Is Dagon In The Bible? 2022.
[2] Nick Cady. Theology for the People. Augustine & Disordered Loves. 2019.