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Our Other Gods

           Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal. (Isaiah 26:4)

          Maybe you’re not like me. I tend to be a “forever” thinker. In whatever situation I find myself, unless there is a clear end in sight, it’s either going to last forever and I whine, or I want it to last forever. As today’s verse tells us, however, it is the Lord that is the rock eternal.

          One of the ideas I have tried to get across to people is that your god is whatever dictates or informs your understanding or perception of reality. Another version of the same idea is that the “rocks” in your life, the things you think are going to influence or control your life forever your gods. We don't think of them that way, but that's the role they play.

          I’m not happy with this idea, because it means that for over a decade, the job I hated was at least one of my gods. I knew, of course, that I wouldn’t have that job after I died, but I still lived my life on the premise that I was stuck there in an unending nightmare.

          I’d like to say that I learned my lesson when I quit that job, but I suspect that circumstances, people, and other things that aren’t God take on that role in my life. One phrase I need to add to my list of mantras, I think, is “This, too, shall pass, but the Lord will not.” And it’s my hope and prayer for all of us that the petty gods that we don’t realize we’re trusting will drop away until only the true God remains. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth is.

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