Isaiah was a prophet during a time of great upheaval and trauma for Israel and Judah. He wrote about the covenants that God had made with Abraham, David and Moses. With all three covenants, this was a time in history when it seemed really impossible that any of them would actually be fulfilled by God, let alone that God would work things so that all three would come to pass. I'll write more about all of this later, but it was really amazing that Isaiah was writing about them all. Isaiah also wrote about idolatry and how that has broken our side of the bargains with God.
Our teacher ended the class talking about how idolatry doesn't just mean worshiping some golden idol. It can also mean anything that takes our focus off of God and turns our desires into demands. For instance, it is a natural, God-given desire to want pleasure. If you start demanding pleasure, though, and manipulating things so that you can get more and more, then it becomes an idol in your life.
I'll write more about this soon, when I have my notes out, so that I can get it all clear in my head . . . but he also asked some thought-provoking questions for ferreting out the deep-seated idols in your life:
- What causes you to be angry when it is blocked?
- What do you get anxious about?
- What devastates you, or would devastate you if you lost it? (What, if you lost it, would make you wish you were dead?)
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