Bible Wonders - Graven Image

Did you ever wonder? Did you ever wonder? Did you ever wonder? Why the sun always rises, but the stars never fall?

Why dry land is never satisfied by water? And why fire never says enough? I have always struggled with the first two the most because the whole idea of a graven image and what exactly is the difference between that, between having other gods before me, and so God had me kind of go back there and with a very specific idea of to really study that word graven, since even in English, I wasn't sure I knew exactly what that meant. And so, when you look at the verse, it's interesting how much more there's there to it than I originally remembered. It says, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

So, I'd missed out on that. Clearly, we're not supposed to make images of worship that would have anything to do like angels, but also like birds and clearly fish. And if you think about it, that at those times, you know, a lot of those gods that they were worshiping, the graven images that they were worshiping were made in the images of these very items, specifically fish, or, you know, even a mermaid. Think about, you know, what that may be, and I hadn't even considered that, so I decided to dig into this word graven.

And in English, it's pretty easy. It's to be engraved. In other words, it's a carving. They're carving these things, they're engraving them, but in Hebrew is where I really got what I think I came for. So, in Hebrew, when you look at the word that was translated graven, the letters, as I always mentioned, just speak volumes to me. So, the first letter in the word graven, or that engraved, is apay. And apay is almost synonymous with the presence, and usually with the presence of God, like when, you know, Adam and Eve went out of the presence of God, you know, that is pretty much what that pay is.

And then after the pay comes a psalmic, which means kind of like married to, and then a lamed, which means heart. So, as I thought about this, I was like, so the presence, like to be present with God, being married to him in your heart, is what's supposed to happen. But what happens to us, unfortunately, is often we get in a situation where we have whatever graven image is that essentially is taking up God's place in the presence of what our reality is, right? That right this minute, in my reality, I want to be in the presence of God, I want to be married to him, I want my heart turned over to him. But these essentially graven images in my life are taking that place of the presence, which is always my struggle. I'm always trying to figure out, how do you pray without ceasing? How can I always be in God's presence?

Well, what is it that is taking that place? And so I can think of in any given moment, like right this minute, is this broadcast, am I making it a graven image or am I making my career a graven image? Or am I in God's presence, which I really hope I am, or I really feel like I am, as I'm recording this right this minute. It's like, wow, what is standing in my way that I'm so intrigued by, that my heart is so connected to? I am missing that I am in God's presence right now. God help us all to get rid of our graven images.