# 286 Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods

The Book of Genesis

Day 286

Ge 31:17 Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels.  18 And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.  19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father's.

Rachel. Beautiful Rachel! The love of Jacob’s life! Well, what do we have here? This beautiful lady is a thief and an idolater! You don’t steal household idols to be used as knick knacks. She took them with her because she planned on using them. She obviously had been using them as more than paperweights and was planning on continuing to use them in some sort of ritualistic worship in her new home.  This was in direct violation of what God later codified in His commandments: Ex 20:4,5 says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;  5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Rachel, probably under the influence of the household in which she grew up, still did not have a handle on the one true God! She had been brought up in a culture of multiple gods and graven images and maybe she thought by bringing them along with her she could “stack the deck” of life  in her favor. We shouldn’t be too hard on her though because many times we do the same thing. We often rely on other things to bring us peace, safety, and prosperity, We too hedge our bets with the things and the philosophies of the world. Or we try to secure our place in heaven with our own perceived good works.

“Oh there’s a God out there all right, but why not include these other gods too? What can it hurt?”

  And God reminds us in Ex 34:14 '(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),

We must all learn to rely on God and I can think of no better example than George Mueller. He was a man who lived in England. He was a believer who took seriously God’s simple command to take care of the fatherless, so he opened an orphanage. In his lifetime, he took in thousands of street kids and loved them and provided a home for them, never making an appeal for funds. He just prayed and relied on God trusting Him to provide.  And God always did.

Sometimes when food was low, George would pray and subsequently a basket of food would show up on the doorstep. In his life it is estimated  that hundreds of thousands of dollars passed through his hands, yet when he died he had around a thousand dollars to his name. .

George Mueller simply took what God had provided for him and funneled it all back into the ministry. He used it solely to provide for God’s children. No idols in George’s life. No hedging of bets. Just all in with Jesus because he believed God was sufficient.

When God calls us to obedience, He will supply what we need AS we need it, all for His glory!