The Heart is an Idol Factory

Reading in Joshua 23.16 this morning. The last thing that Joshua leaves to the people is the dangers of idolatry. It is a prescient comment, since it would be idolatry that brought them into exile. I think it is safe to say that idolatry has been and is the chief failure of humans. As someone once said, "the human heart is an idol factory." Just so. Always and everywhere it wants to make an idol of something.

In all this exhortation we see how closely Joshua copies the example of his great master Moses. See Lev. xxvi. 7, 8, 14, &c.; Deuteronomy xxviii. 7; xxxii. 30. He was tenderly concerned for the welfare of the people, and with a deeply affected heart he spoke to their hearts. No people ever were more fairly and fully warned, and no people profited less by it. The threatenings pronounced here were accomplished in the Babylonish captivity, but more fully in their general dispersion since the crucifixion of our Lord. And should not every Christian fear when he reads, If God spared not the natural branches, take heed that he spare not thee? Surely a worldly, carnal, and godless Christian has no more reason to expect indulgence from the justice of God than a profligate Jew. We have a goodly land, but the justice of God can decree a captivity from it, or a state of bondage in it. The privileges that are abused are thereby forfeited. And this is as applicable to the individual as to the whole system. - John Trapp

Heart Idols and Discerning God's Will

I've been pondering Ezekiel 14.3 today. A comment from the Expositor's Bible Commentary on the verse got me thinking. The commentator said: This verse is important for those who come to Scripture seeking guidance. No true direction can be given to those who have erected idols in their hearts. This has profound ramifications for discerning God's will. If one comes to him with a heart given over to idols of whatever kind, any attempt to seek God's guidance will be disastrous.

What this means in a practical sense is that, with a heart full of idols, I can convince myself that what I want to do is God directing me. This is a dangerous place indeed and ought to give me pause to analyze very carefully my own heart. To do what I want and call it "God's will for me" is an affront to God and takes his glory and attempts to put it on me. Not good.