Idols of The Heart ( 1 John 5: 21; Ezekiel 14: 1-8 )

While I was reading Psalm 112 this morning, the second part of verse 1 caught my attention – “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord.” And then three other things in the passage spoke to me that describe the man who fears the Lord.

1. His children will be mighty in the land, v. 2.
2. Wealth and riches are in his house, v. 3.
3. His heart is secure, v. 8.

And then I turned to Genesis 37 reading about Joseph’s dreams. But it is not Joseph that caught my attention this time. It was Jacob. Then I remembered the verse in Psalm 112 that speaks about the security of one’s heart.

I find verse 3 critical in the entire story. It says, “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons…” And the reason is stated, “…because he had been born to him in his old age.”

Jacob’s love for Joseph caused jealousy and hatred among his sons. That hatred would have resulted into the death of Joseph if Reuben and Judah had not interfered. To cover up for their crime, the sons of Jacob made up a story to convince their father of Joseph’s death.

Jacob, convinced that his beloved son died, refused to be comforted and concluded “in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son.” I understand this that Jacob would end the remaining years of his life in misery. Jacob decided not to “let go” of his son’s death. He would carry the pain of his son’s death to his grave.

And then I asked myself this question. Did not Jacob fear the Lord? Where is the security of heart here describes by the Psalmist? I thought Jacob was done with himself when he wrestled with a man at Peniel. But here, in his old age, Jacob made another idol that made his heart insecure. He made an idol out of his son Joseph. And that is why when he lost his son, the lost was too painful and as if he could not go on living without his son.

It is legitimate to love a son. It is legitimate to grieve for the lost of a son. But I think, something is going on here that would teach us a lesson how to deal with the idols of our own hearts.

One reformer said, the heart of man is a factory of idols. The manufacturing of idols in the human heart never stops. If it could happen to a patriarch like Jacob in his old age, who among us can say that we are free from it?

When I was done meditating, I thought of blogging this realization. So I googled for an appropriate picture representing the idols in the human heart. But I stumbled instead of one essay by David Powlison about “The Idols of the Heart.” I became interested. So I decided to read the essay. And I thought of conversing with the author as if he was talking to me. As I read the essay, I find so many materials, which speak personally to me. I categorized them under eight headings. There are lines in this essay that I will just leave and give no response but let them speak for themselves. Now let me share my experience of this imaginary counseling:

About Difficult Questions

“Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart’s trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight?" (p.35).

"Who or what 'rules' my behavior, the Lord or a substitute?” (p. 35). 

Response: 

At this point in my life, I find it a very difficult question. If this question would be asked to me three years ago, I could answer this question with confidence affirmatively. But why I find it difficult now? Just this morning, when I woke up from the bed, three idols of my heart are exposed – lust, her, and pain. As I continue reading the essay, more idols are exposed – fear of hunger, security, and how about my dream for financial freedom?

“Will Christian serve the Living God or any of a fluid multitude of idols crafted by his wife, neighbors, acquaintances, enemies, fellow members of idolatrous human society...and, ultimately, his own heart?” (p.36).

Response:

I find this question unusual. Christians are supposed to be free from idols. Why the author is asking this question referring to Christian?

“ ‘Who can understand the heart of man?!’ And who can understand the world that negotiates with that heart?!” (p. 43).

Response:

 The answer? None except one.

“The question, ‘What is God’s agenda in my life?’ can often be answered with some confidence when I start to grasp the themes which play out in my life” (p. 47).

About Cycle of Problem in Marital Relationship

“The classic alcoholic husband and rescuing wife are enslaved within an idol system whose components complement each other all too well. There are many possible configurations to this common pattern of false gods. In one typical configuration, the idol constellation in the husband’s use of alcohol might combine a ruling and enslaving love of pleasure, the escapist pursuit of a false savior from the pains and frustrations in his life, playing the angry and self-righteous judge of his wife’s clinging and dependent ways, the self-crucifying of his periodic remorse, a trust in man which seeks personal validation through acceptance by his bar companions, and so forth” (p. 37).

“The idol pattern in the wife’s rescuing behavior might combine playing the martyred savior of her husband and family, playing the proud and self-righteous judge of her husband’s iniquity, a trust in man which overvalues the opinions of her friends, a fear of man which generates an inordinate desire for a male’s love and affection as crucial to her survival, and so forth” (p. 37). 

“The current marital problems are exacerbated versions of long-standing problems: anger, inability to deeply reconcile, threats of violence alternating with threats of suicide, depression, workaholism alternating with escapism, a pattern of moderate drinking when under stress, generally poor communication, use of pornography, and loneliness” (p. 41).

“Satan methodically disintegrates Wally’s relationships, leads him into gross sins, deceives his mind into highly distorted and selective perceptions, accuses him into despair, discourages him, ties his life into knots in every imaginable way, fans normal desires into inordinate and addictive desires and ‘needs,’ and the like” (p. 46). 

Response:

I simply agree.

A Challenge in the Way Contemporary Man Thinks

“The love of God teaches us to repent of our “need for love,” seeing it as a lust, receiving merciful real love, and beginning to learn how to love rather than being consumed with getting love” (p. 40).

Response:

I consider this sentence revolutionary in our age. People these days are hungry for love but they never see their hunger for love as “lust” and something to be repented of. People in our days do not see any fault in our understanding of love.

“ ‘God accepts you just as you are. God has unconditional love for you.’ That is not the biblical Gospel, however. The Gospel is better than unconditional love. The Gospel says, ‘God accepts you just as Christ is. God has “contraconditional” love for you.’ Christ bears the curse you deserve. Christ is fully pleasing to the Father and gives you His own perfect goodness. Christ reigns in power, making you the Father’s child and coming close to you to begin to change what is unacceptable to God about you. God never accepts me ‘as I am.’ He accepts me ‘as I am in Jesus Christ’ ” (p. 49). 

Response:

Which is which?

Warnings

“Our enemies not only hurt us, they also tempt us to be like them” (p. 44).

Response:

I can attest to this from personal experience.

“Wally’s body variously exacerbates or moderates the intensity of his sins. It does not create new kinds of sins” (p. 47).

Response:

 I agree.

“Let nothing that is on this side of the other world get within you; and, above all, look well to your own hearts, and to the lusts thereof, for they are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (p. 50).

About Too Many Idols 

“For purely heuristic purposes it may be useful to notice that one person is particularly attuned to the intimacy idols, another to avoidance idols, another to power idols, another to comfort idols, another to pleasure idols, another to religiosity idols, and so forth” (p. 45). 

“People are idol-makers, idol-buyers and idol-sellers. We wander through a busy town filled with other idol-makers, idol-buyers, and idol-sellers” (p. 50).

The Answer 

“Intelligent faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is ultimately the answer. But awareness of the spiritual warfare occurring emphasizes the fact that Christian counseling is a ministry of prayer” (p. 46).

Response:

I prefer experiential understanding of the Gospel as the ultimate answer.

“But changes in Wally’s life—whether the product of victories in conscious spiritual warfare, of physiological alterations, of volitional commitment or of mountaintop experiences—seemingly ‘happen’ at random” (p. 47).

“The Spirit and the Word can work powerfully both to reorient him from the inside and to set him free from the control of what impinges on him” (p. 48).

“Christ powerfully meets people who are aware of their real need for help” (p.48).

“Jesus says to take up our cross daily, dying to the false gods we fabricate, and learning to walk in fellowship with Him who is full of grace to help us” (p. 50).

Goal of the Author

“One of the goals of this essay is to describe several elements which can make change more consistent, internalized, self-conscious and genuinely transformative. In my experience the Wallys, both inside and outside the church, tend to be very blind to the things that move them. It is a curious but not uncommon phenomenon that a biblically literate person like Wally has no effective grasp on the idols of his own heart and the temptations of the particular Vanity Fair which surrounds him” (p. 47).

Response:

I am one example of this.

About Comfort in Suffering 

“Lordship through the lens of experiential providence: Learning to rejoice in God amid blessings and to repent and trust God amid sufferings versus growing presumptuous, proud, or self-satisfied when things go our way and depressed, angry, or afraid when life is painful, frustrating, or unsure” (p. 48).

“As psalm after psalm demonstrates, our sufferings are the context in which we experience the love of God, both to comfort us and to change us. We are comforted in our afflictions as we learn of God’s promises and power. We are changed in our afflictions as we learn to take refuge in God rather than in vain idols” (p. 49).

To read the entire essay: Idols of the Heart