Spurgeon: May AM
* 05/04/AM
"Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods."
--Jeremiah 16:20
One great besetting sin of ancient Israel was idolatry, and
the spiritual Israel are vexed with a tendency to the same
folly. Remphan's star shines no longer, and the women weep no
more for Tammuz, but Mammon still intrudes his golden calf, and
the shrines of pride are not forsaken. Self in various forms
struggles to subdue the chosen ones under its dominion, and the
flesh sets up its altars wherever it can find space for them.
Favourite children are often the cause of much sin in believers;
the Lord is grieved when He sees us doting upon them above
measure; they will live to be as great a curse to us as Absalom
was to David, or they will be taken from us to leave our homes
desolate. If Christians desire to grow thorns to stuff their
sleepless pillows, let them dote on their dear ones.
It is truly said that "they are no gods," for the objects of
our foolish love are very doubtful blessings, the solace which
they yield us now is dangerous, and the help which they can give
us in the hour of trouble is little indeed. Why, then, are we so
bewitched with vanities? We pity the poor heathen who adore a
god of stone, and yet worship a god of gold. Where is the vast
superiority between a god of flesh and one of wood? The
principle, the sin, the folly is the same in either case, only
that in ours the crime is more aggravated because we have more
light, and sin in the face of it. The heathen bows to a false
deity, but the true God he has never known; we commit two evils,
inasmuch as we forsake the living God and turn unto idols. May
the Lord purge us all from this grievous iniquity!
"The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be;
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only thee."