No kings? No other gods

S: Numbers 12:8-9 ⁸ Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall happen that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹ Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived.

Deuteronomy 5:7-10 ⁷ You shall have no other gods before me. ⁸ You shall not make a carved image for yourself—any likeness of what is in heaven above, or what is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁹ You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me ¹⁰ and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Deuteronomy 34:5-6 ⁵ So Moses the servant of Yahweh died there in the land of Moab, according to Yahweh’s word. ⁶ He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows where his tomb is to this day.

2 Kings 18:1-5 Now in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. ² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. ³ He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, according to all that David his father had done. ⁴ He removed the high places, broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. ⁵ He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel, so that after him was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him.

O: I wonder if God deliberately concealed Moses’ resting place so that the Israelites could not go worship him there? Just like what happened with the bronze serpent.

On Saturday, 7 million people were reported to have joined the “No Kings” rallies in USA. The Bible doesn’t say we must not have kings, but it does say “You shall have no other gods before me.”

A: We so easily put other gods before Him. When we idolise people and other things, when we let ourselves be first motivated by them – whether it’s loyalty to a person, to our desire for wealth and power, comfort, or anything else – above obeying God – that’s a problem.

I am not much tempted by wealth or power, but my weak point is comfort. But sometimes God calls me to do an uncomfortable thing.

P: Father, help me to follow You faithfully, even when it’s not comfortable or convenient. Teach me to keep You first in all things. In Jesus’ name, amen.