"All Trusting In Idols Shall Be Disappointed And Ashamed"
"All Trusting In Idols Shall Be Disappointed And Ashamed"
Know for certain that no immoral, indecent, or greedy person — who is really an idol worshipper at heart — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Messiah and God.
It is easy to understand why immorality and indecency are indicators that someone is not worshipping God in spirit and in truth, because God is holy and He expects us to be decent, moral people. If someone calls their self a Christian yet is engaged in immoral or indecent behaviour, they have left the narrow path that leads to life. They have chosen to deceive themselves by believing God to be someone who tolerates immoral and indecent behaviour.
It is not so clear at first how greed can be considered idolatry, but it is very interesting to uncover.
.. So, what is Greed?
Greed is a human behaviour that is characterised as an inappropriate lust for more when one already has enough. It is a temptation that incites the person to choose discontentment instead of contentment. The only reason a person could possibly not be content with having enough, is because they have declined contentment and yielded to a delusion: that they can obtain happiness by having more.
In order for the temptation of greed to arise, a person must have experienced some state of happiness from their pursuit and found a pattern - learning that the only way to experience such elevation is to have that particular thing (eg: cars, shoes, tools, etc). In this way, we can also think of greed as a behaviour of addiction. Just as a drug addict is restless and discontent unless they are under the influence of drugs, a person enslaved by greed is not content while knowing that more or better things can yet be acquired.
Greed is rooted in fear: a fear of deprivation. This is based on normal, healthy human survival behaviour - that is, to harvest in the summer and store for the winter. It becomes a dysfunction when the motive for accumulating is not to survive a seasonal shortage, but to obtain a greater satisfaction from life than the satisfaction that is normal for one who has enough.
In this way, the greedy person has yielded to a delusion that causes them to be perpetually dissatisfied and committed to striving*
(*Consider Genesis 3:17-19 and Hebrews 4:1-11)
For wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: wisdom preserves the life of the one who possesses it.
King Solomon noted that money is a "shelter", because it is a universal item of value that can be exchanged for tangible goods or services in case we should encounter a shortage. In this way, money shelters us from deprivation. A healthy person will exercise wisdom to ensure that he has enough to survive seasonal shortages or situations of emergency.
However, money is also useful for acquiring goods and services for purposes other than eating and keeping warm. Money is useful for making investments that return a profit, or for influence in order to interfere with the lives of others (eg: war).
All a man's ways are pure in his own eyes, but Adonai weighs the motives.
So what is the purpose for the work you do? Some people work hard to get as much wealth as possible, because they know that wealth can be exchanged for power. It is said that "money is power", and people who crave money for this reason have become convinced of a direct correlation between wealth and protection. I.e. "the more I have, the more I can withstand and survive times of threat".
In this way, we can use language to say that they are trusting in money to save them. For example, a country that invests heavily in military might assume to be in a better position to save themselves from invasion by a country with lesser military investment.
A more interesting example is that a wealthy person can use the legal system against a less wealthy person in order to coerce or eliminate him. When this happens, it shows that the legal system has become an instrument not for justice, but legitimate assault.
Oy to those enacting unjust decrees and recording corrupt legislation, to deprive the helpless of justice and rob the rights of the poor of My people, so that widows may be their spoil and orphans their prey! What will you do in the day of visitation, when desolation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
Isaiah is describing that there are unrighteous lawmakers who craft law in such way to deprive the helpless of justice, rob the rights of the poor (tyranny), to make spoil of widows (theft) and to make orphans their prey (assault).
“There is none like God, Jeshurun, riding through the heavens to your aid and through the skies in His majesty.
"Jeshurun" is a poetic name that Moses used in Deuteronomy 33:26 as he gave his final blessing to the tribes of Israel. The meaning of this word, is to describe one who is "upright", "just" or "straight".
Moses is saying that God is enthusiastic and goes to great lengths to defend those who are upright and just. So a Christian can have great assurance because of the righteousness he has through remaining obedient to God, that if anyone brings a charge against us, the greatest power is on our side to support us and to execute true justice when we call on His name.
The idol-worshipper is feeding on ashes. A deceived heart has led him astray, so he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t what is in my right hand a fraud?”
By ignoring their conscience and devising to plot their unjust gains, they have built their house on sand.
The Name of Adonai is a strong tower. The righteous one runs into it and is set safely up high.
The fool says in his heart "there is no God". They are corrupt and have done an abominable deed. None of them do good.
Therefore hear the word of Adonai, you scoffers, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem: “Because you have said, ‘We cut a covenant with death, we made a pact with Sheol, so when the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come for us, for we have made lies our refuge, and hid ourselves in falsehood’ — Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone, a firm foundation — whoever trusts will not flee in haste. But I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line. Hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and water will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death is annulled, and your pact with Sheol will not stand. An overflowing scourge will pass through and you will be its trampling place.
Modern Christianity has become idolatry in this sense, where the doctrine of the masses states "you will go to hell unless you believe that Jesus will take you to heaven". By buying into this sort of doctrine, they have deceived themselves to have made a pact with death. But without a resolution to live with good conscience, they do not have sufficient righteousness to save them in The Day of Adonai.
What then shall we say in view of these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? It is Messiah, who died, and moreover was raised, and is now at the right hand of God and who also intercedes for us.
- Serving Zion, Sep 25, 2017