Carrying . . .

I heard a TV preacher late Monday night teach on “gods.” I’m still trying to get my head around the message (I kept dozing off). The parts I heard made me consider the thoughts presented since they sounded possibly true in my life.

The teacher said (my paraphrase) the gods we make, we have to carry; however, when God makes something, He does the carrying. I understood her to say that we humans have a propensity for making our own substitute gods to save us, but then we have to carry them and be constantly serving, protecting, and caring for them rather than the other way around. Can that be correct?

My immediate thought was of the story in Exodus when Moses went up on the mountain to receive the 10 commandments. The people on the ground got nervous because they wanted a god they could see. So, they made a substitute—a golden calf to follow. How were they going to follow it? They would have to carry it. Was that golden calf going to protect them? Open a Red Sea? Stand between them and their enemies?

What does that have to do with me? I don’t have any golden calves and for that matter, very little gold. But, are there substitutes I create so I can see them and trust in them, just in case? Since my husband and I are at the age to consider retirement, I am thinking we should have worked harder to build hefty IRA’s, large savings accounts, and a diversified portfolio (I don’t know what that is, but I hear that term on TV). Could those be substitutes we could trust to protect us? My head says “My God shall provide. . .” but I also want to see money in the bank (hmmm, but I also…).

We have been discussing health insurance following retirement. I have found that getting older may well be accompanied by new aches and pains, and that we may need medical care more than ever before. The national news has covered repeatedly how plans are to cut Medicare to improve health care.(???) If we have Medicare and provide for ourselves a fabulous health insurance policy, can we trust them to protect us and keep us healthy? I know Jesus is the great physician, but I also. . . and there you have it—“but I also.”

Just as I begin to proudly see myself as a woman of great faith, I become aware that the “just shall live by faith” thing is not a walk in the park. I realize that I do walk by faith plus. . .plus a safety net of my own creation. Is that faith? Is that a substitute? Is that what the Israelites were doing?

So, now I feel bad, like a “ye of little faith.” Then I ask myself, do I need to have faith in my faith? Oh, that’s too deep for me right now. I should have stayed awake more and heard more of that teaching. For now, I will seek to grow in my faith and my heavenly nature while recognizing how easy it is for my human nature to sneak up and covertly supplant my faith by coaxing me to make myself a substitute, a little god I can see and touch and carry.

♫ “If He carried the weight of the world
upon His shoulders,
I know my brother that He will carry you.
If He carried the weight of the world
upon His shoulders,
I know my sister that He will carry you.” ♫
by Scott Wesley Brown