Deuteronomy 7: Idols and Faithfulness

God tells Israel not to intermarry with the peoples that surround them, because it will cause Israel to be torn away from him. That tearing breaks his heart everytime. His people chasing after everything under the sun and in the process losing touch with him completely. I have seen it time and time again. People dedicated to God, to serving him, but then drawn into a life of things that are not necessarily "evil" but things that are not focused in him. Lives slowly drawn into mediocrity--where God "exists" but there is little committment to him. It is this very thing that God is speaking against here (7.3-9). He says "I am faithful to the covenant. That is why I saved you from Egypt. I remembered the covenant I made with your forefathers" (7.8)--"Now my question is: what does it mean for you to be faitfhul to the covenant? Sure I will bless a thousand generations (7.9) but a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands" (Dt. 7.9; see also John 15, and 1 John 5).

How do we guard against a life that simply over time loses its focus on God? That simply fizzles out over time? That stops remebering YHWH's amazing act through the Red Sea? That forgets what God has done for the world (and you and I) in Jesus of Nazareth? Part of the answer to this question is found where we (and this chapter begins)-- we must learn how to keep ourselves from idols. We are surrounded by them and they call our name at every turn: materialsim, sexual perversion, war and violence, the abuse and neglect of children, worship of capitalism as way of life, and of course all the other formal "religions" of the world-- all jockeying for our attention and don't doubt it, our allegiance as well. YHWH says If you follow that stuff the end of it is death. If you take that root YHWH will "destroy you", not to mention the fact that the idolatry in itself will begin to destroy you. Tom Wright points out that it is a basic human trait that human beings become like what they worship. If we worship sexuality, money, violence that is what we will begin to become oursleves--those things will begin to define us as human beings instead of being part of a larger whole, which is true humaness. In the end these things court death in us and we, like Sean Penn, become "Dead Men Walking."

But it breaks the heart of God to see that. That is why he reminds Israel (and us) that his chosing of the people of God was not arbitrary. It was not because they were mighty or whatever because they weren't (7.7), it was because "the Lord loved you" (7.8). Wow, what a thought-- God loved us before we ever loved him. It was his love that moved him to save us from the Egypt of our own slavery to sin and death. He was the first mover toward us and we responded. Thus we can never boast. We can only humble thank him and do our best to keep his commands...