The Focus of Worship

Saturday, August 24, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.”

2 Kings 18:4–6

Hezekiah was one of the few good kings the Jewish people had after the division of the nation. His father Ahaz was so wicked that the people did not bury him in state with the previous kings. Ahaz had introduced the worship of the Assyrian gods to his people, even defiling the Temple. When Hezekiah first took the throne, he set out to undo what his father had done. He began destroying false idols and places of worship, and had the Temple cleansed. But he did one more thing—he destroyed the brass serpent that Moses had lifted up in the wilderness so the people could be healed.

The Jewish people had begun to worship it rather than God, making sacrifices and burning incense. This wonderful reminder of God’s provision for the healing of the nation, and wonderful type of Jesus Christ, had been turned into an idol. God gives us good things because of His love and grace, but we must never let them become our focus. Instead, we should allow God’s gifts to point us to Him.

A. B. Simpson wrote:

Once it was the blessing,
Now it is the Lord;
Once it was the feeling,
Now it is His Word;
Once His gift I wanted,
Now, the Giver own;
Once I sought for healing,
Now Himself alone.

All in all forever,
Only Christ I’ll sing;
Everything is in Christ,
And Christ is everything.

Today's Growth Principle: 

Rejoice and be grateful for your blessings, but worship God rather than what He has given you.