11The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, 12Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonitesc oppressed you and you cried out to Me, did I not save you from their hands? 13But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. 14Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of trouble.”
“The words of this cry seem fine, but God’s response seems to indicate that He saw something lacking in Israel’s repentance. One may cry out to the LORD, yet really just wish things were different. Crying out to God with the voice is not necessarily the same as crying out to Him with our heart.
i. God wanted from Israel the same thing He wants from us - a heart that will put its hand to the plow and not look back (Luke 9:62). He wants us to come to the place where we know that there is nothing worth following except God.” (Guzik)
“For the first time it is recorded that He refused to save them, reminding them of how repeatedly He had delivered them, and yet they had turned back to their evil courses. In the message of His anger there was clearly evident a purpose of love.” (Morgan)
“This apparent rejection, and the apparent indifference to the pleas of His people, was designed to test the sincerity of their response.” (Cundall)
“One technique used to help people stop smoking is to put them in a small, unventilated room and make them smoke for hours on end, until they can hardly bear it. It makes them sick of smoking and makes them truly want to stop. In the same way, sometimes God will allow the natural consequences of our sin to crash upon us in concentrated form, so we can become sick of our sin.” (Guzik)
“You have not been forced to worship these gods by your oppressors and tyrants; but you have freely chosen these gods before me.” (Poole)
Deuteronomy 4: 27Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. 28And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
Acts 17: 24The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. 25Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
I’ve never understood the concept of inventing a god by human hands and then worshiping a man-made god!
Habakkuk 2:18 “What good is an idol carved by man, or a cast image that deceives you? How foolish to trust in your own creation— a god that can’t even talk!
My God talks to me through the Bible (His word), speaks to me in my heart ❤️ and through my mind!
Do you hear Him calling you?
Blessings
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