Dedicated Idols

Does this statement make sense to you?

"I dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image" (Judges 17:3).

The son had stolen the silver from his mother, but he returned it to her. That is when she made the above statement.

But doesn't that contradict Exodus 20:4? "You shall not make for yourself a carved image."

It does.

The mother commissioned the making of the idol with some of the silver and gave the rest of it back to her son. The whole story is just wrong.

And there is no sign of God's blessing, God's leading or God at all in the story. It's near the end of Judges and demonstrates the principle that is repeated in these last chapters, "Every man did what was right in his own eyes."

The son stole the silver from his mother. The mother rewarded the son for stealing. They ended up with a silver idol in their home.

But don't we do the same things?

We dedicate our children to the Lord when they are born. We talk about raising them up in obedience to Scriptures. We take them to church. We help them learn memory verses.\

But when it comes time to confront them about their sin, we avoid it. We don't want the conflict.

We pick up after them. We do their chores. We let them sulk. We'd rather keep things calm and quiet than face conflict.

Our children have become our idols. We do what they want us to do, rather than what God wants us to do.

Or when we hear juicy gossip. We know it's not right, but why bother stopping that person?

She'll just gossip about me. I better stay on her good side.

Our friends have become our idols. We do what they want us to do, not what God wants us to do.

So what good things have you dedicated to the Lord only to turn them into idols?