ANXIETY and IDOLS
It has been said that: “Idols are a response to anxiety, and anxiety is born when we believe only in our own power and therefore put ourselves in God’s place”*
Anxiety often becomes prominent when people become frustrated. This was the case during the exodus from Egypt when, time after time, the people complained against God. But it really came to a head when Moses delayed coming down from Mt. Sinai, where he had been meeting God. The Hebrews became frustrated and anxious and decided to put themselves in a place where only God should be. They made their own god.
“Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him,’” (Exodus 32:1).
Now it may seem strange that people would consider a god that they made to be more capable to lead them than the one who brought them out of Egypt and performed many miracles for them along the way. And yet, after Moses was gone for only 40 days did their faith wane and Aaron was asked to “make us gods.” This was not just an image of a god but the god itself. It’s amazing what anxiety and frustration can do.
We are told that God is always with us; that He is for us and that He loves us, but do we really believe this? We are also told to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and to “Be anxious for nothing…” (Philippians 4:6) but we manage to do neither of these well.
Because of these shortcomings of our own, we continue to have our doubts, and be anxious and frustrated with life. We all do. As a result, we tend to redefine God into an image that we feel more comfortable with and also that we may feel more in control. Like the Hebrews, we want to pour more of ourselves into this god of our making with the result that rules and regulations and works creep into what we feel god should be and require. Rather than accept Christ on faith, His death, burial, and resurrection, we continue to add to what He did so that we may feel more acceptable to Him.
As the Hebrews lost faith on a God they could not see, in spite of what He had done, they needed an image they could visualize and mould. Likewise today, we also cannot see God and perhaps try as well to “mould” Him into something more tangible by our constraints and our works.
It has been said that Martin Luther was on a trip to Rome and was doing penance by climbing stairs on his knees and praying at each step when it really came to him that “…the just shall live by faith…” (Galatians 3:11) and not by works. It was the beginning of his great realization of faith that changed the course of history.
We too must all come to that same realization. We must live by faith; the works we do must come because we have favour with God and not in an effort to seek that favour. When we do the latter and add to God’s plan, then we create something entirely different, and, like the Hebrews, build our own golden calf.
What was God’s response to all this? We don’t often read the last verse in that chapter in Exodus to which we previously referred. “So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Arron made,” (Exodus 32:35).
Considering what the world has been experiencing the past year or so, perhaps it’s a verse we all should think about.
*How to Believe in God whether you Believe in Religion or not by Clark Strand pg. 67
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