Wednesday: The Dangers of Idolatry
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 24th of December 2025
Read Joshua 24:22-24. Why would Joshua need to repeat his appeal to the Israelites to get rid of their idols?
The threat of idolatry is not a theoretical one. Earlier, on the plains of Moab, in a similar context, Moses asked for the same decision (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). The gods that are in view now are not the ones of Egypt or those beyond the river, but they are found “among them.” Therefore, Joshua pleads with his people to incline their hearts to the Lord.
Image © Kevin Carden at Goodsalt.com
The Hebrew term used here, natah, means “to stretch,” “to bend.” It describes a God who is expected to bend down and listen to prayers (2 Kings 19:16; Psalms 31:2-3; Daniel 9:18), and it is also the attitude required of Israel later by the prophets (Isaiah 55:3, Jeremiah 7:24). It is employed to indicate the apostasy of Solomon when his heart inclined toward foreign gods (1 Kings 11:2,4,9). The sinful human heart does not have the natural tendency to bend and listen to God’s voice. It takes conscious decisions on our part to incline it toward fulfilling God’s will.
The Israelites’ answer literally reads: “We will listen to His voice.” This expression emphasizes the relational aspect of obedience. Israel is not asked to routinely follow lifeless rules. The covenant is about a living relationship with the Lord, which cannot be fully expressed by mere regulations. Israel’s religion was never intended to be legalistic; rather, it was to be a constant conversation in faith and love with a holy and merciful Savior.
Even after the people’s threefold promise to serve the Lord, which implies, as Joshua commanded, the removal of foreign gods from among them, there is no report that it actually happened. Throughout the entire book, it became customary to report on the fulfillment of Joshua’s commands (or those of Moses) as examples of obedience. The lack of it now at the end of the book leaves the plea of Joshua open-ended. The central appeal of the book to serve the Lord is not only for Joshua’s generation but also for each new generation of God’s people who would read or hear this message.
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How often have you promised the Lord you would do something, but then you didn’t? Why didn’t you? What does your answer tell you about grace? |
The issue of idolatry did not go away for the Israelites. The historical books of Judges, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, record a meandering spiritual path between God, Baal, Ashtoreth, Molech, and Dagon, and probably others. From our modern Christian perspective, we ;ook back and ask the rhetorical question, “What on earth were they thinking?” We forget sometimes that we are essentially on a hill looking back in time and can see a lot more that someone in the bottom of a valley. When you have a small horizon you can only see what is around you. Think about the following issues:
Prosperity and Calamity: When the neighbours crops are doing well and yours are doing poorly, you search for reasons. If in the search the question of gods comes up, you may be willing to try a different god. A lot of worship allegiance was associated with crop and herd success and failure.
Moral Restriction: If the neighbours are having a good time because of their lax morals, there is a lot of hormonal pressure to join them and throw off your moral code.
Youthful exploration: Young people often associate without the restrictions their parents see. Good-looking damsels and handsome young men are powerfully attracted ot one another, irrespective of religion.
Keeping up with the neighbours:. We never want to be too different to our neighbours.
And in the valley of the twenty-first century, where our own horizon is small, are we all that different. We may not have the gods Baal, Ashtoreth, Molech, and Dagon but the motivation is still the same. And one of the big issues we face is we look for the equivalent modern gods instead of addressing the motivation.
Biblically, idolatry is not only the worship of physical statues, but placing trust, allegiance, or ultimate hope in anything other than God.
The issue was not ignorance alone, but misdirected trust. Israel often turned to other gods when:
Life became hard,God’s commands felt restrictive,obedience seemed costly,
Or cultural pressure felt overwhelming.
Philippians 3:19 “…their god is their stomach; all they can think of is what they want now…” Idolatry is not just bowing to false gods; it is living for desires instead of God.
From the valley of the twenty-first century, we are not fundamentally different from ancient Israel.
The names of the gods have changed, but the motivations of the heart remain the same.
Biblically, the answer is not merely to reject idols, but to:Trust God in times of lack,submit to His moral authority and find identity and belonging in Him alone.
“ Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols! The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay,” says the Lord. “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” (Jeremiah 2:11-13, NLT).
Idolatry was the most prevalent and grievous sin that compelled God to abandon His most precious possession (Israel) to be taken into captivity in Babylon. God describes this as double evil in the above text. The heavens were shocked by the magnitude of this sin. Idolatry is not a small sin but causes a multitude of other sins. Idolatry leads to moral decay, injustice, unfaithfulness, and false religion. This is why Paul warned the people at Corinth to flee from idolatry. “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” ((1 Corinthians 10:14). He even saw the final destiny of idol worshippers. “Idolaters… will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9).
One question I want to pose to us all is: “Why was idolatry so attractive to the Children of Israel, even to us today?
Jeremiah 2:12–13
This is a remarkable statement. God lays open the human heart and shows us what evil really looks like. Evil is when the creatures of God, his own image-bearers, forsake him, their very source of life, the source of all that quenches their deepest thirsts, and try to quench those thirsts apart from him. Evil is trying to find life anywhere but in God.
We hear echoes of Eden in the Lord’s words. Like Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit, Israel’s sin wasn’t merely that they disobeyed God’s commands. Their disobedience exposed a deeper, deadly problem: treachery against God had taken root in the deepest places of their hearts. Sin revealed that they placed their trust, pledged their allegiance, and sought their satisfaction in something or someone other than God. They exchanged God for things that were no gods (Romans 1:23).
And this has always been the core evil of every sin — of all our sins: forsaking the Source of greatest joy (Psalm 16:11), believing we’ll find more joy elsewhere
Idolatry is not a new concept. It affected even the children of Israel who personally witnessed God deliver them from Egypt, saving their very lives during the Passover. They saw God part the Red Sea, securing not only their salvation but also the destruction of the Egyptian army. They witnessed God provide food when there was no hope and water when they were desperate. They saw God lead them both day and night. Yet despite all this, they still turned to idols. Scripture reminds us of this tragedy: “They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass” (Psalm 106:19–20).
Idolatry is dangerous because it presents itself as gratification but ultimately leaves us emptier than before. Our safety lies only in God, who made heaven and earth. God tells us that He is jealous for us, not out of insecurity, but out of love, because idolatry pulls us away from the only place of true safety. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me… for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:3,5). Idolatry denies us the opportunity to experience the true God and places us in spiritual danger. The greatest question we must answer, then, is whether we choose to be safe with God or vulnerable with idols.
The children of Israel committed the sin of idolatry by trading the true God for momentary satisfaction. Israel was God’s chosen people—the very people He delivered from Egyptian bondage that was destroying them. This shows the lengths God is willing to go for our salvation and how seriously He takes it. Ultimately, it cost God His own Son to redeem us. That reality makes idolatry such a serious sin, because it ignores what God has already done for us in both creation and redemption.
We need to be careful to not think that idolatry is something relegated to the dust bin of history. Idolatry is every bit as possible and prominent today as it was back in ancient Israel, it’s only more sophisticated and chic. Society actually encourages and glorifies it. There’s a show called “American Idol”, sports stars, rock stars, and movie stars. Some of whom have sold their soul for fame and fortune in this life. Today, people may not bow down before stone or wood idols per se, but can idolize their favorite sports team, or player, their favorite actor/actress/entertainer, musician, etcetera. We can idolize accomplishments, diplomas, degrees, titles, our vehicles, homes, jobs, possessions, or bank accounts. Virtually anything, or anyone can become an object of idolatry. It is subtle and sneaky.
The devil probably has more temptations for us today than anytime in earth’s history. This is why more than ever we need to guard our hearts and keep the full armor of God on always. We need to also remember that we don’t own anything. It all belongs to God. All that we are, and all that we have are gifts on loan from God, and they can all be taken away. We are merely stewards of it all, entrusted to manage it for God’s Glory.
If we can remember these things we can avoid falling into the trap of idolatry. If we don’t learn the lessons of history, we are destined to repeat them. Israel thought they were immune to idolatry but their history reveals that they succumbed. May we who think we stand, take heed, lest we fall into the same snare. Money wrinkles and things do decay. May we put away our idols.
All the issues listed boils down to the matters of the flesh!
I am saying in response to the question posed at the end of this lesson.
“How often have you promised the Lord you would do something but then you didn’t? Why didn’t you?”
For me the “why” part always came down to the flesh was weak! As humans we often erect idols in our lives to ease discomfort. To please the flesh.
Lust: We indulge in fornication and pornography to “relieve” that tension.
Depression & anxiety: Indulge in alchohol and drugs to make the pain go away.
Hard Life: We chase money and power to “take back control” of our lives so ourselves and our loved ones never struggle again.
We do these things because they are instant. We SEEMINGLY think they are solving our problems because God didn’t act “fast” enough. But we know that God’s timing is always the right time. Which boils down to the next thing. We don’t TRUST God. So we take thing into our own hand.
Joshua died when he was 110 years old, according to Judges 2:8. He had brought the people of Israel into the promised land of Canaan, had led them through many victories, and had set them a good example of faith in God. After his death, others of his generation lived on for a while, but then they too died out. While they lived, the people of Israel served God faithfully, because the memory of his greatness was preserved. Verse 7 says, “The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work which the Lord had done for Israel.” While the memory of God’s greatness and the work he did for Israel was alive, the people maintained their devotion to God.
But verse 10 says that after the death of Joshua and those who had seen God’s mighty acts, “there arose another generation after them, who did not know the Lord or the work which he had done for Israel.” And the result of this ignorance is given in verse 11, “The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt.” And then verse 14 describes the divine response to this idolatry. “So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers.”
In summary, there was a sequence like this: first, the people revered and served the true God because Joshua and his generation kept the memory of God’s mighty acts alive among the people. Second, a new generation arose who for some reason did not know God or his work for Israel. Third, this new generation forsook the true worship and turned to other gods. And finally, God brought the judgment of his wrath upon them. The three lessons for us that I want to draw out of this text are simple, but so needful. First, when the knowledge of God is preserved in a community, especially by those who have personally experienced God’s power, faith is nourished and obedience flourishes. Second, if parents allow children to grow up without this knowledge of God, we serve not only their ignorance and unbelief, but also their destruction. Third, therefore it is the solemn duty of all parents to teach their children about God and his saving work, so that the next generation will know and be saved.
The Bible says that idolatry is man’s natural modes operandi.
“Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Eph. 2:3 KJV
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14
We naturally see God as a “root out of dry ground with no form or comeliness that we should desire Him.” Isaiah 53:2
Only when we feel our great need of God and can say, “Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death”, (Romans 7:24) will we desire Him. I believe this is born out in Scripture.
Because Joshua knew for certain that if the Israelites transgress against the Lord, their God’s commandment, He will destroy them, he appealed to them to get rid of their idols. God is the source of our life, and because He lived in us, He will learn about our secret transgression. No one can transgress and get away with it, in that God lives in us, and He takes record of our major and minor pursuits.
Joshua was afraid of what might happen if God finds out about the idols they commit themselves to, and with the intent that God will never find out about their secret pursuits. When the Israelites turned against God’s statutes and the covenant that He made with their fathers, He became angry with them and destroyed all the tribes and left only the tribe of Judah (2 Kings 17:15-19). When the tribe of Judah also chose not to follow the Lord’s commandment, God rejected the entire seed of the Israelites and handed them over to the spoilers to cast them out of His sight (2 Kings 17:19-20).
Rev.20:19-21 – ”Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
“I stand at the door and knock . . .” ‘Will we hear His voice and listen?’ Are we able to hear Him speak to our heart and mind? We need to become still before Him, removing the clutter from our heart and mind to hear His still small voice calling us to keep the faith and follow Him – Matt.16:24; Rev.14:4.
God is wonderful. At the time we’re living, there is no time to waste. Every opportunity has to be seized. May God have mercy and cleanses us all! For the time of Jesus return is close!
I am a lesson teacher Najjanankumbi SDA church I always come here for more studies so I thank you so much