Deuteronomy 13:1-3
1“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
We are commanded to love The Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. The first two commandments address this: 1) have no gods before Him and 2) don’t worship idols. He wouldn’t give these commands if we didn’t have a propensity to do them.
All throughout Israel’s history there were times when they would stray from God. In doing so, there would be a national downturn. To get their attention they would lose a war and sometimes become captive.
Why did they stray? There was something alluring about the alternate ways. Some idols were specific to particular areas. A farmer may want to worship the god of the harvest. He would justify it as a supplement.
Things get our attention as well. Some collect fortunes, others read their horoscopes. They don’t stop being a christian. It’s seen as something fun. This is our culture drawing us away. We should be looking at the bible for encouragement.
There are teachers in the christian community that have extra biblical emphases. It may be a prosperity message, lifestyles and more. These are alluring. There is often some truth in their message. That’s what gets pas our guard. But there is another aspect of their message that’s questionable. Avoid it.
In today’s passage, God says He will send these things our way to test us. Do we love Him? Do we love Him to the point that we will exclude these things? God doesn’t give the option of being a supplement.
Lord, help us to resist those things that compete with You.