Genesis 30:1 “when Rachel saw that she gave Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob, Give me sons, or else I will die”

The story of Rachel is the first time in the bible that idols are mentioned. She stole her father’s idols. I’ve thought about Rachel’s story often, she was beautiful so much so that Jacob worked 14 years to win her but it felt like only days to him (complete devotion). On the outside she seemed to have it all, yet she had envy in her heart toward her sister. I realized I inherited through my fallen nature a few of my natural fathers’ idols. Perhaps there may be idols in our lives that we are unaware of. What do we look to for happiness, security, and self-justification? What drives us, what do we long for so much that our heart says, “Give me this, or else I’ll die!” What must I have for life to be meaningful or happy? What enables me to lie down at night and know that, at the center of my being that I’m okay? If I answer those questions honestly with anything other than God Himself, then that’s what functions as an idol for me. We don’t bow down to stone statues, but we worship idols in other ways. Idols are the loves, thoughts, desires, longings, and expectations that come before God in our heart. They are the things that we invest our identity in. They are what we trust and devote ourselves to. Idols cause us to disregard our heavenly Father in search of what we think we need. Our idols are misplaced love, all those things we love more than we love Him, the things we trust for our righteousness that make us “fit in” with the world. Idols come before God, so we bypass God and they get the priority in our decision making. Is God and your love for Him more important than your job, your body image, your possessions, your friends, your family? Its possible to worship any of these things by placing them above God and bowing your heart to them instead of Him in the choices that you make. There is a curse involved in idolatry, but it isn’t because we don’t go after and get what we want. The curse is that we’re trusting in something other than God to satisfy us yet idolatry always ends in dissatisfaction. Are you willing to sin to obtain your goal? If you sin when you don’t get what you want, then that desire has taken God’s place in your heart. Jesus set the bar quite high. He said your heart is reserved for God alone. When your heart is bowed to Him then everything you need will come in His time and in His way.