Tear Down Thy Father's Idols

"And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it."

Judges 6:25

The inevitability of facing idolatry is one the Christian cannot help. But perhaps the hardest to face are those within one's own household, community, church, workplace, etc. Gideon himself did not have the courage to go about it in the day but took down the idols at night so as not to be noticed. But, good deeds will find you out. In Psalm 127 the psalmist teaches the vanity of building and protecting if the Lord himself has not built the city. As an answer to this problem the psalm continues on to say "Lo, children are an heritage from the Lord: and the fruit of thy womb is a reward." One safeguard to build and protect is in the gift of children. Oh that I were always attentive to thy law! Sometimes, oftentimes, the children themselves must put their hands to the work of correcting the past. Except the Lord bless the work, they labor in vain.

If you see the errors of generations and in constant agony you seek to work in the night take heart brother, I know your frustration. When liberal tendencies are budding in your church, when outright abominable acts are not confronted by church elders, when you are castigated on all sides as someone who is looking too far into things, or when family has come to wear their idols around their necks in the open, this was Gideon's fight. This is why I encourage you to have around you those who are like-minded, to tear down these wicked idols and declare that this area belongs to Christ. Doing the work of a reformer is vexation of the soul. It is often a lonely endeavor. But we return to our labor, like Elijah, and proclaim the Lordship of Christ over all things. For all things are being reconciled to him.