Deuteronomy 28:36 The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
It is amazing how quickly we can settle for a god who can do nothing when push comes to shove. Oftentimes when circumstances change or opportunities broaden, we settle for money, our own abilities, or the abilities of others instead of the God Who has shown Himself to be true throughout our own history.
In Deuteronomy 28, Moses was telling the children of Israel that they had a choice. If they would serve God, God would bless them. In the first verses of chapter 28 there are all kinds of blessings that came from their serving, obeying, and following God. Then there is a series of curses beginning in verse 15. If they would not listen to God, these are the things that would happen. It is a long grocery list of horrible calamities. The most interesting of these calamities is found in verse 36 and repeated in verse 64 where the Bible says, “And the LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.”
What was going to happen? Well, it wasn’t just that they would serve other gods, as if that were an improvement. Serving other gods was part of the curse! If they would not follow God Jehovah, they would serve other gods. Notice that these were gods which they had not known. They had no history with these gods. These were gods who had never once freed them from bondage, hadn’t brought them out of Egypt, hadn’t provided food from heaven, and hadn’t made the seas to part. They didn’t know these gods, yet they would be serving these gods.
Notice he mentions they were gods made of wood and stone. Now it wouldn’t matter if the gods were made of precious things such as gold and silver. They were gods who had lips that could not speak, eyes that could not see, and ears that could not hear. They were impotent. They could do nothing. God repeats in verse 64, “There thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.”
The truth is, we are doomed to serving a god that can do nothing when we ignore the God who knows us. It is easy when things change to think that God is somehow no longer sufficient to our new opportunities or problems. It is good for us to remember who God is, and to remember that He is the God Who has helped us in the past. We also need to remember that one of the blessings of life is to know this God and one of the curses of life is to serve gods that can do nothing.