Thursday

"The people made a calf at Mount Sinai; they bowed before an image made of gold. They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating ox!" Psalm 106:19-20 (NLT)

These verses indicate that the Israelites traded something great for some knock off. They settled for less.

We are like them. Or perhaps, we may be worse. We cover all of our bases like the people of the ancient Near East did. The Israelites also hedged their bets by looking to multiple sources for sustaining them. A verse found in 2 Kings describes this dichotomy perfectly: "The people honored the Lord but also served their own gods, just as the nations did from which they had been brought."

2 Kings 17:33 (NCV)

While we might say that we are devoted to God, perhaps we are guilty of honoring God while also serving other things. We split our worship, our trust, and our faith between God and other things.

When it comes to your relationship with God, where in your life have you settled? Where have you turned to something else to fill you rather than God?

Don't worry if you don't have a really good answer to this question yet. That's the point of this series!