Genesis 31 — Thoughts
Can You Sit on Your Idols?
I believe this is the first time false gods — or idols — are mentioned in the Bible. And it's kind of a funny story.
Laban has cheated Jacob on at least two occasions, he's used divination, and now we find out that he worships idols. He's just a bummer of a guy all around. Understandably, Jacob decides to leave Laban and take his family back home.
But as they're leaving, Jacob's wife Rachel steals her father's household gods. Laban tracks them down and demands the idols back. Knowing nothing about what Rachel has done, Jacob promises to kill whoever is found with them. So Rachel hides the idols under a camel saddle and sits on it. When Laban asks Rachel to move so he can look for his idols, she tells him that she can't because she's having her period!
What I love about this story is how utterly disrespected Laban's household gods are. They're so powerless, they can be stolen. They can do nothing about the indecency of being sat on. And, perhaps more importantly, they clearly haven't helped Laban to become a better man.
That's the thing about idols. They're fake. They don't actually help us. They can't even help themselves. All they're really capable of doing is entrapping our hearts. And yet — human beings are idol factories.
Before we pat ourselves on the back for being too evolved to worship little statues anymore, we should remember that not all idols are literal. Money, relationships, political affiliations... Anything we look to for our identity, anything we look to for hope, anything we allow to replace God in our hearts — that's an idol in our lives.
Thankfully, Jesus offers us freedom from idol worship. In him, we find our identity, we find our hope, we find our relationship with God restored. We don't have to suffer the uselessness and disappointment of chasing after the things of this world, because we've already found our fulfillment in Him!
Have you told someone lately about the only One worth worshipping? He's the only One who can save.
(Originally written August 4, 2020)