Unholy Ignorance
Cursed be the man who makes an idol or molten image, an abomination of the Lord, the work of a craftsman’s hands, and sets it up in secret! Deuteronomy 27:15
Secret – Why would a man make an idol to worship and then hide it in secret? If he worshipped a god other than the Lord, why keep it hidden? The answer is all about social propriety and appearances. This man wants to be seen as a practicing member of the worshipping community, so he puts on a publicly acceptable religious face. But behind the curtain is his true loyalty – a false god, hidden from disapproving eyes. He believes his strength and success come from the false god he serves, but he still wants the public endorsement of religious orthodoxy. He aims to deceive.
But God will not be mocked.
In ancient Israel, Moses sternly warned against gods in secret (satsar). The curse would not fall solely on the deceitful practitioner. The curse would fall on the whole community. Offering faithfulness and loyalty to anything and anyone except God alone put the entire nation of Israel at risk. This crime broke the first commandment. It was not to be tolerated at all!
God is still not mocked.
How many of those who claim religious conformity actually worship secret gods? The politician who needs the religious vote but secretly worships at the feet of power and prestige. The judge who cares nothing for the integrity of God’s Word, but attends church in order to be seen as a moral man. The businessman who is a member of the congregation, but serves the god of personal profit without a deliberate strategy to turn his success into Kingdom advances. The parent who sings in the choir and teaches Sunday School, but worships the god of sports celebrities. The teenager who carries a Bible, but feeds on Rap and gangster music. Or you and me, secretly setting up those little mood-altering mini-gods where we run when the stress gets to be too much. We love the Lord, but we hold onto our secret idols, just in case something bad happens.
Moses tells us that our secrets damage the entire community! You, the one who keeps a hidden god, are responsible for the curse that falls on the innocent. Ignorance is no exemption. God’s plan is for a holy people, not a holy person. We are all in this together.
And when we let those who claim to follow the King mock Him with their secret gods, we are as guilty as they are. We could have intervened. We should have watched and prayed. We needed to take a stand.
Did we?
