excitedWhere do you find idolatry (v.1-7)?This doesn't do the sermon justice; I'm hoping to have it converted to MP3 and posted on the church website soon.How can you tell?
- Where you're afraid—facing an uncertain future and formidable obstacles
- This means it is at center stage of our lives
- Where is my life—my future—on the line? What keeps me up at night?
- Where you must come through
- Stay strong; be successful and survive
- Idols are only as good as your performance
How do you overcome this?
- Anxiety
- Pride
- Self-loathing
- When the above are present, look underneath them for the idol
What is the result? (v. 15-16)
- Seeing the futility (v. 7, also ch. 40-55)—worshipping an idol is just dumb
- Trust in God's strength (v. 8-14)
- Who is doing the work?
- You have rest.
- God makes a worm (small, inconsequential, non-threatening) into a threshing sledge (formidable, powerful, useful in the harvest)
- We are redeemed, and we are redeemed to be used in His work, the harvest.
Read something this afternoon that made me sad, but in that way of longing for something good. There are things I want from God, and that's a far better thing than going after them in my own strength and asking Him to bless my efforts down the road.
He asks me to ask. And He redeems.
