This Verse Will De-Idolize Your Mind So God Can Bless You

In many instances, God wants to give us the very thing we want from him, but he is also withholding that blessing because we want it too badly. In other words, God will not bless us with an idol.

Perhaps you really want to be with a certain person, to be married, or to have a better career. If you are idolizing this, however, you might be missing out on receiving it, even though God wants to give it.

Either way, whether the Lord will give it or not, you know this idolatry is torturing you. But maybe you don’t know how to let this go.

In Isaiah 30:22, it states, “Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, ‘Be gone!’”

Notice, however, the “Then” that starts this statement. What came before verse 22 that caused Israel to let go of their idols?

By studying Isaiah 30:19-23, we can discover at least 3 ways to de-idolize our minds.

1. To De-Idolize Your Mind, Rightfully Attribute the Affliction This Idol Is Causing You to Its Source

Isaiah 30:19-20, “He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.”

Before the Israelites could be free from their idols, as verse 22 states, in verses 19-20, they first needed to be brought to tears. In kindness, God will not always shield us from the pain our idols will cause us. God wants us to see how bad these false gods are for us.

However, this is much different than punishment. Punishment is when we get what we deserve. Punishment has to do with justice. If you do the crime, you must pay. God is not punishing his people. Rather, God is disciplining them.

Discipline and punishment sometimes look very similar. But discipline is not about paying the penalty to satisfy justice. Discipline is about correcting harmful behavior. Discipline is closely related to the word “disciple.” As the disciples followed and learned from Jesus, so too is Jesus shaping us through discipline.

However, some miss the point of discipline by blaming God for the pain that he allows because of the idols in their lives. Or they allow their pain to push them further into sinful pleasures. If you want to be released from an idol, you must rightfully attribute the affliction God is allowing because of this idol. This pain is meant to help you turn away from this false god and to the true presence of God.

For example, if you are idolizing a certain person that you wish you could be in a relationship with, God will allow you to feel an immense ache in your heart. The pain is so bad because God wants you to see that you are elevating this person too high. It’s okay to want to be with someone. But only God can fulfill you that deeply.

Hebrews 12:6, 11, “‘For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.’ . . . For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

2. To De-Idolize Your Mind, You Must Regularly Reflect on God’s Word

Isaiah 30:21, “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”

Just before verse 22, which states that God’s people will “Then” be free from their idols, verse 21 highlights the importance of listening to God’s personal leading in your life. And while the Holy Spirit will speak to us in our hearts, we first need to be rooted in the Bible so we can properly discern the Spirit’s voice from our own.

When we are regularly saturating our minds with Scripture, it’s like we are resetting our internal navigation system. The world is constantly pushing and pulling us into sinful directions (Romans 12:2). To combat this, we must slow down and recalibrate ourselves again to our true north. Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

It sounds overly simplistic, but the truth is, if you want to free your mind from an idol, you need to regularly be in God’s word.

3. To De-Idolize Your Mind, You Must Look Ahead to the Reward of Obedience

Isaiah 30:23 “And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous.”

After verse 22, the word of God promises a blessing for the obedience of rejecting an idol. This does not mean that if we obey God, we will always get exactly what we want. It’s not saying that a harvest or a famine is always literally caused by idolatry or obedience. Rather, the point is that when you reject idols and submit to the one true God, good things always happen.

For example, if you are idolizing marriage, God wants you to imagine how much better your future marriage could be if you were not idolizing it. Imagine how freeing it would be not to need someone else to always fill you. Imagine how much love you could experience if you were able to forgive quickly and not demonize someone who couldn’t live up to your idolization of them.

God wants us to look to the good that comes from following him. His goodness will give us the motivation we need to finally let the idols go (Matthew 6:1). As Hebrews 12:1-2 explains:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

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