TWRAC 023: What and Who do I Worship?

This Week’s Recovery Application Challenge

Please be sure to complete this week’s TWIRL 023 prior to moving on to TWRAC 023.

What and Who do I Worship? 

Isaiah 57:1-13:

⁵ You worship your idols with great passion
beneath the oaks and under every green tree.
You sacrifice your children down in the valleys,
among the jagged rocks in the cliffs.
⁶ Your gods are the smooth stones in the valleys.
You worship them with liquid offerings and grain offerings.
They, not I, are your inheritance.
Do you think all this makes me happy?
⁷ You have committed adultery on every high mountain.
There you have worshiped idols
and have been unfaithful to me.
⁸ You have put pagan symbols
on your doorposts and behind your doors.
You have left me
and climbed into bed with these detestable gods.
You have committed yourselves to them.
You love to look at their naked bodies.
⁹ You have given olive oil to Molech
with many gifts of perfume.
You have traveled far,
even into the world of the dead,
to find new gods to love.
¹⁰ You grew weary in your search,
but you never gave up.
Desire gave you renewed strength,
and you did not grow weary.

¹¹ “Are you afraid of these idols?
Do they terrify you?
Is that why you have lied to me
and forgotten me and my words?
Is it because of my long silence
that you no longer fear me?
¹² Now I will expose your so-called good deeds.
None of them will help you.
¹³ Let’s see if your idols can save you
when you cry to them for help.
Why, a puff of wind can knock them down!
If you just breathe on them, they fall over!
But whoever trusts in me will inherit the land
and possess my holy mountain.”

Isaiah wrote, “You worship your idols with great passion.”

Idol defined by Mirriam-Webster:

1 : a representation or symbol of an object of worship; broadly : a false god
2 a : a likeness of something b obsolete : pretender, impostor
3 : a form or appearance visible but without substance <an enchanted phantom, a lifeless idol
4 : an object of extreme devotion
5 : a false conception : fallacy

Look again at the definition of worship: “extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem… a person of importance.”

• What in your life have you given highest importance and esteem?
• Think this question through: In what ways might you find that you worship your marriage, or dating relationship, and/or important friendships and/family relationships?
• For parents: How might you worship your children?
• For mature children: How might you worship your parents?
• Generally speaking, what kinds of people, places, events, and things might be considered “idols” in a person’s life? Write down everything you can think of.
• Of course that was a set up question. Which of those things, if you are completely honest with yourself, might be an idol in your life; that in one way or another you might admit you worship?
• In Isaiah 57, verses 5-8: What were the objects identified to be idols for the people of Israel?
• Lifestyle activities: Of the activities in your life to which you give high importance and priority (in that you invest meaningful time and energy), which would you be willing to admit might be objects of worship to you—idols in your life? (By the way, this can even include church activities, religious rituals and traditions, and other things deemed spiritual that might be a bit out of balance)

“You worship your idols with great passion beneath the oaks and under every green tree. You sacrifice your children down in the valleys, among the jagged rocks in the cliffs.” Isaiah 57:5

• From verse 5, what is the consequence of idol worship? While addicted people might not in a literal murderous sense, sacrifice their children, but how do addicted people sacrifice their children as a consequence of their addiction?
• What in your life would you be willing to admit is addictive behavior? (Keep in mind that we’re not merely talking about alcohol and drug related behavior) How is your addictive behavior similar or the same as what you identified previously is idolatrous?
• What would you say you are often thinking about? What would you admit you obsess about or have a preoccupation with?
• How might these preoccupations and obsessions, generally borne out of dissatisfaction, be addictive thinking?
• How might addictive thinking be idolatrous?
• How has addictive and idolatrous thinking and behavior affected your relationship with God?
• Looking back at Isaiah 57:11-13, what truth does God speak through the prophet Isaiah about the things we worship apart from God?
• Please honestly reflect on this before responding: In what ways might you have greater fear and reverence for your idols of addiction than your fear and reverence considering the position of strength, authority, power, and control of Almighty God of the universe? (You might as well be honest with yourself about this because God already knows)
• If you were behaving in certain ways behind the back of your mate, such hidden activities would be considered lies of ommision. How have you lied to God, and perhaps to yourself about your idols of addiction?
• Do you believe in your heart and mind that what you deem of highest importance apart from God can truly help you? Explain.
• What might you be willing to admit is out of your control and authority?
• What might you be willing to admit to God that you need help with? Make a list.
• What might you be willing to admit to God that you need Him to help you recover from?

Please take the time now to pray and ask God to respond to your needs in recovery from your worship of self.

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