There is a powerful difference between intimacy and idolatry. Idolatry destroys intimacy. It is not uncommon for people to fail to achieve intimacy because they are practicing idolatry. In the Ancient Near East, pagan religion was based on manipulating and controlling the world in which you lived. Religious worship practices were focused on manipulating and controlling the natural realm and environment, the divine realm or spiritual world, and the Human Realm of relationships with other people. The practice of religion used sympathetic magic, religious ritual practices, and direct forms of manipulation to control these three realms. The people of that time and culture believed that whatever you could control in one realm, would also impact related things, people, gods, etc. in another realm. They based this belief on everything being related as a universal whole. Therefore controlling or manipulating a person, object or God also resulted in controlling the aspects of the intimacy in the relationship with that object, person, or god. The nation of Israel had become accustomed to seeing the Ark of Covenant leading the progression in their crossing the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land, and in each battle they entered into in the process of conquering the Promised Land (Josh. 3:3,15-16; 4:7-18, 6:4-20). As a result, they began to believe, that all they had to do, was to take the Ark of Covenant with them into any battle or venture. IF the Ark led the people then God would be forced to bring about results in their favor. They came to see God as a “god in the box”, which they could control and manipulate into granting their wishes and doing their bidding on command. This concept is very forcefully demonstrated in I Samuel chapter 4, when the Ark of Covenant is captured by the Philistines. The Israelites thought that by marching the Ark ahead of the army, as was the normal practice, they would automatically be granted victory. The problem was, they had reduced their relationship with God to a relationship based on sympathetic magic. For them, God was to be manipulated and controlled instead of obeyed and worshiped. Their intimacy with God had become Idolatry of God. Idolatry in the Ancient Near East pagan religions was always a concept of controlling the human, divine and nature realms through ritual, magic, and manipulation in order to maintain the status quo of life. As long as they could manipulate and control the aspects of any one of these realms, they believed that their day to day lives would go on as normal, they would be blessed, and life would be secure and good. Idolatry was the practice of controlling and manipulating the three realms so that the gods behind these realms would be forced to protect and provide for their prosperity in all aspects of their lives. The problem for the Israelites occurred when the God of Israel, would not fit into their box. He refused to cooperate in their attempts to control and manipulate Him. Many people approach intimacy, in their relationships with other people, and with God in the same manner that Israel sought to manipulate their relationship with God. However, God will not be controlled and manipulated, nor will the people around us, be controlled and manipulated. Many people at some point in their lives put God in a box. They want God to answer their prayers and fulfill their desires in a specific manner. When God refuses to abide by their dictates they lose faith. They feel that God no longer loves them. They feel that they no longer can trust God with their lives. As a result, they abandon their relationship with God and destroy all the intimacy they had with God. Many people also destroy their intimacy in human relationships in the same manner. When the person they love fails to honor the manipulative requirements which they place on the relationship, the intimacy and trust between them is lost and broken. What we find in both human and divine relationships is that the traumatic events in our lives break our trust relationships and prevent us from developing intimacy with God or with the people around us. With enough traumas in our lives, we end up becoming extremely compartmentalized in our personality Any time we make God or another person into an idol, that we can manipulate to ensure our personal quality of life, we destroy the vibrancy and trust that provides the fertile context and environment for intimacy to grow in our relationships. We must constantly ask ourselves – “Is my relationship with this person based on intimacy or on idolatry?”
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 02:49:14 +0000
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