Wednesdays with Moses

Read Exodus 20:4-6 – “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (NKJV)

God is bigger than any symbol you might find to represent Him. He is greater than the most beautiful sunrise or awesome mountain range. There’s simply no way to capture His glory in any picture frame and trying to do so offends Him greatly. This is an interesting command, isn’t it? No graven images. We easily dismiss the idea of worshipping a statue and question the intelligence of those who do. After all, inanimate objects can hardly respond to our circumstances or step into the crises of our lives. But there’s a deeper truth here. No matter how you picture God—even in your mind—He’s always wider than the frame. Part of the wonder of worship is when we explore the mysteries of God—He is the righteous judge, and yet He is love. He transcends our existence, and yet He is the friend that sticks closer than a brother. He is all-powerful, and yet He finds a purpose for our efforts. The list goes on and on. The point is that while you and I can know God, we cannot fully know God much less capture Him in some image. Such an effort demeans His greatness. Instead, we can spend our lives seeking to learn more and more of His remarkable nature. True worship seeks to push to the edges of our understanding of God—edges that expand infinitely before us.

– Dr. Mike Clarensau serves as Senior Director of the Healthy Church Network of the Assemblies of God.