Veiled Idolatry

There were a few verses I came across in my study of the New Testament recently that have been on my mind.

It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel? You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship.

Acts 7:42-43

Isn’t it strange to think that even after their great deliverance from Egypt that any of the Israelites would carry with them their idols under a full knowledge that it was indeed the God of Israel that delivered them?

Perhaps not when we take a closer look at our own behavior. Do we carry with us our own idols that bring us comfort and satisfy us in times of need instead of our Father in Heaven?

What are our idols today that we substitute for God?

It is easy to mock the ancient worshipers of Moloch or Ba’al, but perhaps if they had access to our 21st-century idols, they wouldn’t look much different than us.

That would mean that had we lived in their time, we might have been right there with them placing our own children upon the scalding arms of Moloch.

I’m not sure what I find more terrifying, the ancient version of myself worshipping some bizarre graven image or the modern one where I am doing practically the same thing and not even realizing it.

* I’m not saying that phones or Google are inherently idols any more than clay or gold are idols, it’s how we use things and their relationships to our desires.