What is this in my Right Hand?
10 Commandments – Week 3
Mike Halstead
6/24/18
This week, we move on to the 2nd commandment, and discuss the dangerous practice of creating things that are not God in His image. We also will further take a look at God’s “jealous” nature, something that may be difficult to explain to those looking to disparage our assertion that we worship a good God.
Read
Deuteronomy 5: 8-10
Go Deeper
1.Like we discussed last week, God again describes himself as jealous in this passage of Deuteronomy. Using this passage, what else can we learn about God’s meaning?
2.Why would God punish the descendants of those who create idols in His place? What if they did not follow in their parents’ footsteps?
3.What does the inclusion of the phrase “claiming to be wise” teach us about the situation the people Paul is talking about in Romans got themselves in to?
Apply
1.The previous commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” What distinction would you make between this and the 2nd commandment? What is the between “having no others gods” and “not making an image in the form of anything?”
2.What are some things we tend to make in the image of God?
3.The idea of an “image” is first mentioned in Genesis 1, when God creates man in His own image. How does that passage shed light on the 2nd commandment?
Pray
As you go about your week, start to recognize the things in your life that you may be in danger of creating in the image of God. When you recognize that which may be an idol in your life, consider wither giving it up entirely, or beginning a fast from that thing, to remind yourself of the importance of God’s sovereignty over you.