Week 9 - In that Day - Micah 5:7-15

As a youth my hobby was old cars.  I was a member in good standing of the “High Hopes Historic Auto Club”.  Car meets.  Barn finds.  Petromobilia.  Junk yards.  Some very fond memories.

If I collect cars, and spend an inordinate amount of time waxing/repairing/going to car meets, has it become an idol?

One can argue that anything that competes with God is an idol.  If something else consumes what would be your tithe is that an idol?  Not managing your finances properly is a sin, but simply having too much debt to service does not make it an idol.

In this passage, we are told of several idols that would be removed from Israel.  The first to be removed was horses and chariots, which were the ancient world's ’64 Corvair Convertible, but I digress.

How can a horse/chariot be an idol?

Psalm 20:7

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

It is not that you spend money and time on horses, it is that you put your trust in them.  Actually, the first word “trust” is not in the Hebrew, and the second is actually “remember” (zāḵar).  The Israelites did not need to trust in some future event, but simply remember all the past ones 

Trust-idols identify themselves.  Or better said they animate themselves into idols:

·       “My 401K will give us a comfortable retirement”

·       “My gun will protect us.”

·       “My exercise program will give me a long life.”

They become the subject (the actor), and not the object.  When these thoughts creep in, we are asked to “remember” that God is the source.  He is the dew and the rain, that no man can direct (Micah 5:7).  He alone is the source.

When does a tree become an idol?  Trees become Asherah, when the tree becomes a deity.  

Deity-idols are rarer today, but it only takes one.  And that one is usually us!  We reveal that with the tiny word “I”:

·       I built up a sizable 401K.  

·       I have made a great marriage.

·       I have made a great position for myself at work.

When we change the source from God to us, we have made ourselves a deity.  We are the idols.

The caution here is that God is jealous.  He will not stand by and allow idol worship.  Because in that day He will take away the chariot, as He did with my butter-yellow and black convertible.