But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived. 2 Kings 17:29
When I worked at the addiction treatment center where we treated those with gambling disorders, I would sit astounded as they told their stories. I’ve never struggled with gambling so I didn’t get it, but they would steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from loved ones, losing it all and burning relationships in the process. It was such profoundly self-destructive behavior that made no sense to me. Why would you do that? That’s insane. And it was insane – that’s addiction – but here’s the thing. They didn’t understand my opioid addiction. As bizarre as their gambling addiction was to me, my opioid addiction was equally as bizarre to them. Why would you do that?
Everyone has their own struggle – their own idol – which is the message of today’s passage. In the story, the Assyrian’s conquered Samaria, allowing people from many different nations to settle there. Each people group brought their own idols, worshipping them as they pleased. When I read about idol worship, I think, That’s stupid. Why would anyone do that? Making a cow-god out of gold, just to bow down to it, seems so pointless. Still, each nation had their own idol they worshipped, replacing the one real God with a fake god.
We look at that and we think, How stupid. Why would you do that? We have our idols though. We may not think of it in such terms, but we all have something that we put in place of God. Daily, we should be seeking and following God’s will for our lives, but daily, we seek and follow something else, attempting to find our joy and affirmation there, instead of in God. Maybe we seek affirmation in our career status. Or maybe we seek relief on our phones – in social media, games, or pornography. Whatever it is, we look to that thing for comfort, meaning, or relief, and eventually it fails us, because it’s not God.
We were created to find our joy and purpose in God, but we try to find meaning in anything but God. Whatever our replacement thing is, that is our idol and we will never find true satisfaction in it, because idols aren’t real and cannot satisfy. It is only when we seek God and his will for our lives that we may experience the joy and peace for which he created us. Idol worship is insane because it cannot satisfy. Only God can do that.