Today’s scripture: Isaiah 19:1-17 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Steve Adams):
Ah, the Old Testament! I can almost always rely on it to challenge and puzzle me. This passage seems to communicate God’s intense displeasure of Egypt at that time, declaring it’s leaders and people inept and confused, resulting in a terrible fear of Judah and the true God, who was “planning against them.”
However, I think there’s a tremendous amount we can learn from these verses in Isaiah — life-changing, enlightening principles. One lesson that stands out: avoid idols (verse 3). As is evident from every usage in the Bible (and there are lots of them): they’ll get you in trouble every time. The consequences for Egypt are graphically detailed in this passage. And it doesn’t end with the Old Testament. In fact, in I Corinthians 10, Paul warns the Christians in Corinth to avoid idols, and therefore spare themselves of their consequences.
But, as Christians, we know there is always a solution! Our pioneer in the faith, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, faced every temptation, including idols, and triumphed over all! So I think it’s wise for us to consider what has the potential to distract us from God and wrongfully take God’s place (in other words, become an idol).
I recently read a book that is helpful in this regard. “The Five Levels of Attachment” is written by Don Miguel Ruiz Jr., whose father wrote the well-known book “The Four Agreements.” This book enables us to evaluate how attached we are to our beliefs, assumptions, expectations, and concepts. In fact, we can use the yardstick Ruiz lays out to evaluate our attachment level to just about anything — including what we spend our money on, what we watch on television (and how much), how we use our iPhones and computers, what and how much we eat and drink, how we use God’s gift of sexual desire, how attached we are to doing what’s right vs. doing what feels good, and so on.
Ruiz uses a sports analogy to describe his five levels at attachment: on the low end is mere preference, when, for example, we’d like for the team of our choice to win the game; but, when it’s over, we leave it behind and don’t think much more about it. A higher level is when we identify with our favorite team — it starts to consume more of our thoughts and passions. Maybe we decide to purchase a team jersey at this point. Yet a higher level is when we internalize our preference. At this level, it becomes about my team, and you start to take the performance of the team and others’ perception of it personally. The emotional impact is larger. The extreme level is fanaticism, when the team becomes more important than even human dignity and human life. This extreme level fortunately seldom happens in sports, but it often plagues the arena of political opinion as well as national policies, dominions, and boundaries.
Using Ruiz’s yardstick is a way to increase our self-awareness of how attached we are to anything and everything. How attached am I to viewpoints, activities, and practices that draw me closer to God? How can I increase these attachments in a healthy way? And how attached am I to viewpoints, activities, and practices that pull me away from God? How can I choose to decrease these attachments?
Thought for the day: Thank you God that you’ve given us free will — the will to choose. Let us utilize this great gift in crafting our devotions and attachments to help us become more spiritually aware and effective.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.