Hosea 11, 13, 14: Molded Images, Idolatry, and Me

Now they sin more and more,

And have made for themselves molded images,

Idols of their silver according to their skill;

All of it is the work of craftsmen.

Hosea 13:2

I don't know about you, but when I read passages like this about “molded images” and other ancient idolatries I have a tendency to blithely pass over them without much thought. My normal thought pattern on this topic is usually “Yeah, we don't have idols any more. Not like real, statue-ish, idols. But the we need to beware of 'heart-idols' these days. OK. Got it. Beware the idols of the heart. Now in other news...”

Reading the rest of the chapter though, it is clear that God takes idolatry pretty seriously. Seriously enough that it warrants a bit more thought than my quick I've-seen-this-before-and-know-it-all gloss over.

The first thing to run through my mind is that I'm a bit handicapped in my struggle against idolatry. There aren't any Asherah poles in my vicinity to which I can take an ax, and it's been years since I've seen an altar to Baal that I can dismantle. Those guys back-in-the-day had the idols immediately available and they could go physically destroy them. But, the non-physicality of most of my idols makes axing them difficult task. I tried taking a good ol' Paul Bunyan swing at the Idol of My Reputation, but it was pathetically ineffective. And if My Family, who I am supposed to love becomes my idol? Ax option is definitely a no go. What if I shoulder my ax and head to Wall Street to chop down the Idol of Retirement Savings? An ax at The Mall of America to destroy the Idol of Materialism won't go much better. That Idol of Comfort won't be consumed by setting all the La-Z-Boy outlets on fire. Man it was so much easier for the long dead guys to take concrete actions to defeat idolatry!!

But I'm kidding myself... against each and every one of these idols, concrete action can be taken. It's not in the form of an ax, but it is no less effective. The only thing that keeps me from destroying the idolatry in my own heart is my own heart's love for the idols. Love that should belong to the One True God. Israel and Judah prostituting themselves out to other gods happens every day inside of me. Because my heart is broken, wretched and evil. And every day, like Hosea taking back his traitorous wife, God takes my traitorous heart and loves it. Loves it so much that he cannot bear to see it unchanged. And little by little He does His mysterious work in changing my loves, my desires. Trading my love for lesser things for True Love of the One Great Thing.