The Year I Read the Bible with Laurie Larsen

Episode 4 - Worship No Other Gods Before Me

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Laurie discusses God's delivery of the Ten Commandments to the Israelites in Exodus 19, specifically the very first one, Worship No Other Gods Before Me.  She ponders why that particular commandment was placed first.  Is it more important than some of the others like, Don't Murder, and Don't Steal? Historically, there were about 38 other "gods" (small g) when God communicated this.  But why is it still important today?  What other "gods" do we often place before Him in our modern lives?

Laurie welcomes back the ever-insightful guest Allison Snyder, who also appeared on episode 3.  You won't want to miss what the ladies come up with in their discussion.

Are you interested in the ebooks, paperback, hardcover or audiobook of The Year I Read the Bible?  Check them all out here: https://books2read.com/u/b60650

Speaker:

Hi, I'm your host Laurie Larsen, and this is The Year I Read the Bible. Welcome! A Lifelong Christian, I thought I was familiar with the Bible, but in 2023 I accepted the challenge of reading the whole thing, cover to cover. Whenever I encountered something I didn't understand or wanted to learn more, I jotted it down, but I kept reading to stay on schedule. When I finished reading. (Imagine confetti raining down on me and a huge sigh of relief.) I had more than 50 topics to research. In 2024. I started diving into all those topics. I did research, I wrote blogs, and I shared them with whoever might wanna learn too. And in 2025, the project continues. I published a book containing my essays, and now a podcast. Is there something you can learn from that dusty book that sits on all of our shelves? Yes. Yes, there is. Let's dive into The Year I Read the Bible.

Speaker:

Hi everybody. This is Laurie Larsen and I'm here today with you for another episode of the year. I read the Bible, let's get right to it. It's called Worship No Other Gods Before Me. In the Old Testament of the Bible, God delivered many rules and commandments to his people to teach them how to live righteously and form in them the behavior and mindset of his chosen people. In the Book of Exodus, chapter 19, Moses climbed Mount Sinai to appear before God. God called to him and said, give these instructions to the family of Jacob. Announce it to the descendants of Israel. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on Eagle's wings and brought you to myself? Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on Earth.

Speaker:

Exodus 19, three through six, what God shared with Moses were stone tablets containing the 10 Commandments. The very first commandment of the 10 is You must not have any other God but me. Exodus 20, verse two. From the New Living Translation, the fact that God listed this commandment first is significant. Although he goes on to list the nine other vital commandments, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, et cetera. The first one on his list is to worship him and only him.

Speaker:

As I was reading the Bible, I looked at the concepts in two ways. First, what was the historical significance of the message? And second, what does it tell me today in my current life? I. Let's take a look at what was going on during this time relating to worshiping other gods. Thanks to my chronological Bible, I know that Moses received the 10 Commandments approximately 1300 to 1400 years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ. At that time, every community or grouping of people seemed to have invented their own myths about the gods they prayed to. These came to be known as pagan gods.

Speaker:

Here's a short sampling of the other gods that the recipients of God's 10 commandments would've been aware of. Baal spelled BAAL and pronounced with two syllables. Was a God worshiped in many Middle Eastern communities, especially the Canaanites who considered him a fertility deity. His title was known as Prince Lord of Earth. Canaanites believed that Baal fought with Mott, the God of death and sterility in seven year cycles. If Baal had won a battle with Mott, seven years of fertility would ensue. If he lost the battle the earth would experience seven years of drought and famine. The Old Testament mentions by all by name over a hundred times the God of Abraham was very aware of the draw of this particular pagan God to his chosen people and forbid them by name from worshiping him.

Speaker:

At this same time, the ancient Greeks worshiped 12 pagan gods. I'm sure we're all aware to some extent of the major Olympian gods and goddesses, Zeus, Herra Poseidon, and the like. Our children even know them because Disney created the popular animated movie about them. Around 300 years before Christ, the Greek and Roman empires combined, their pagan religions transformed and reinvented them to be known as the Hellenistic religion. Old cults died and a new religious movement came into being Egyptian deities. Isis and Serapas entered the scene. Hellenism survived until about 300 years after the death of Christ. And when Jesus was engaging in his earthly ministry in the area of Galilee, the Romans who ruled unjustly over the Jews were largely practicing hellenism. In a recent Bible study that I attended, covering the book of Philippians, the instructor said that at the time Paul wrote his letter. To the new Christian Church there, a total of 38 religions or gods were recognized in the area.

Speaker:

Imagine that from a historical perspective, we see why God placed that commandment at the very top of his list. He needed his people to realize that none of those other gods were sanctioned by him, and he was the one and only. Throughout the Old Testament, we see many instances where God's anger is stoked because his people, once again, wandered away from him and began to worship one or more of these popular deities that were so prevalent around them. Can't you just picture early Jews talking to their neighbors about an issue they were having and that pagan neighbor saying, there's a God for that. All you have to do is pray to him or do a prescribed ritual and your problem will be over.

Speaker:

It reminds me of all the weight loss products on the market. Let's face it, losing weight is not easy. It takes hard work and discipline. Eating right, drinking water, exercising. You can't just take a pill and be skinny, but why do we always forget that when an ad comes over, our newsfeed proclaiming that a celebrity lost 40 pounds in a month just from eating a gummy every day. She didn't change anything in her diet and she didn't exercise. Want the same product? Click here to buy. When I look at it like that, I begin to understand the plight of ancient Jews when they succumbeded to their temptations to solve some of life's problems by worshiping a pagan God who was reported to be a specialist in one particular area. If their difficult lives could be made easier. Isn't it worth a try?

Speaker:

That's why God put that commandment first on his list. I get it. But what does that commandment tell me in my life today? Obviously 21st century humankind doesn't follow the ancient gods. But what if we looked at it like this? What are the things in your life as a modern day Christian or Jew that takes you away from focusing on God? What things or practices in your life have in effect replace God in your life, even if you still believe in him? The list could be very long, but here's a few I can think of off the top of my head. Substance addiction, alcohol, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, pornography, workaholic tendencies, adultery, child abuse or neglect. Spending too much time on the internet, choosing to spend time on self-centered pursuits rather than with God. Or the people you love who depend on you, you get the idea.

Speaker:

By spending our time on these unhealthy pursuits, they become the God that we worship in place of our true God what would be on your list? Has it become an unhealthy pastime? Is it time to refocus and place your priorities back on God? Let's end with a prayer. Dear Father, thank you for being our one and only. God. Thank you for documenting your number one commandment to help us remember to place you first in our lives. Forgive us when we wander away from that priority, but thank you for always welcoming us back. We pray for your help in structuring our lives properly and remembering our connection with you. Amen.

Laurie:

We are back and I am here for the second episode in a row with my friend Alison Snyder. Welcome back Alison.

Allison Snyder:

It is great to be here, Lori. Thank you.

Laurie:

For those of you who may not have, tuned into last week's episode, episode three, I encourage you to go back and listen. We're not gonna repeat the story of how Alison and I have. Met and become friends and become, Christian cohorts together. But please go back and listen to episode three and you will get your questions answered there. Let me just say that Allison is a dear friend and a very strong role model in her Christian walk and in particular her Bible knowledge. I always admired that about Allison and that's why I've asked her back for a second, insightful conversation. So Allison, I'm really excited to have you back. Let's get into this episode, which is right there Exodus chapter 19 when God instructed Moses to climb Mount Sinai and, God left for him. The 10 Commandments on stone tablets so that he could instruct his kind of fledgling, community, the people of Israel, what is expected of them as, God's chosen people. And the very first one, was worship. No other gods before me. Or in the, translation that I shared in the essay, you must not have any other God but me. And I started wondering why is that number one? Why wouldn't it be like, do not kill, do not steal, do not lie, you know, worship no other gods before me. And I think throughout the research that I did in that essay, I came upon the answer. At the time that Jesus walked the earth. There were 38 different religions or gods. I recently did a Google search, and right now that number is about 12. There's still 12 different, recognized religions in the world. So this whole thought of God saying. Worship no other gods but me yeah, he knew what he was doing. So what are your thoughts about that or, or what do you think are God's thoughts about that?

Allison Snyder:

The first thing that came to mind, Lori, why is it number one? That's, a good question. God is our father and he wants us for himself not to. Make us feel bad, make us feel guilty. Some of us have had parents that made us feel bad or guilty. But if you thought about what it would be like to have, a parent who is loving, not a pushover, but because we need guidance, but is loving, is forgiving, is patient, is long suffering. God wants that for us, and in order to experience that, we have to be in a relationship with him. I think earthly parenting and, heavenly, eternal parenting, you know, you can't take the analogy too far because he's God. One of the verses I looked up was Isaiah 44 6. And you're so sweet, Lori, to tell me that I'm so knowledgeable. But, I look in the concordance, I look up things like, God, what does he say? Who does he say he is? Yeah, let's flip to that. Actually, that whole chapter is really good. Beginning in verse six. The heading is the Lord, not Idols or little g gods as you, ly refer to them. Six says, verse six says, this is what the Lord says, Israel's king and redeemer. The Lord Almighty. I am the first and I am the last. Apart from me, there is no God.

Laurie:

Mm-hmm.

Allison Snyder:

that's pretty straightforward,

Laurie:

Mm-hmm.

Allison Snyder:

so first of all, this is who he says he is. and I think regardless of where we are on the belief continuum, I think we can't argue with the fact that, we are hardwired for worship. We wanna focus on something. Bigger than us, transcendent, something that we think is bigger than us. Gonna look up the definition of worship, but I didn't get around to it. But, I think that we can agree that this is an inescapable part of being human. Even an atheist is, focusing on their disbelief. You know, I don't believe there is God, and, yeah, so think things that we apart from God, and we already talked about him being loving and kind, certainly a disciplining God, but that's part of being loved, right?

Laurie:

Mm-hmm.

Allison Snyder:

Uh, that they tell us these things that we have to do to please that object of the worship. And also, let's be honest, please ourselves, and the problem is that never enough. It's always a moving target. Think of, what you think of things that we can worship besides God. can be a spouse, it can be a child, it can be our career. It can be, beauty, personal looks. It can be money, it can be status. And, being liked, that's a big one for me and, things in my family, so those are things that came to mind,

Laurie:

Yeah, what you're describing, and I had a list in the essay of things that could become the God in our life, the lowercase God,

Allison Snyder:

right?

Laurie:

in absence of, or if we try to throw it in, in addition to our love for God. So it seems like. When we worship something or put a higher priority on something other than God, then even though it's not a Hellenistic God or a Greek God, like, God was probably referring to at the time that he wrote the 10 Commandments. It's certainly just as applicable in our modern day lives. As it was when Moses brought those tablets down from the mountain. You had a really good list. How do we turn that around? How do we first of all, recognize that we are placing those things, ahead of our priority for God? And then how do we go about turning that around in our lives?

Allison Snyder:

When I read that question, Laurie, I. I was immediately, one word came to mind and this came from a woman, a young woman, who is very dear to me, non-family member. She and I get together about every three months and just catch up. She has had some really significant struggles in her life she used a word because I was struggling at the time with this very thing. she's very quiet. And it was like, it just opened up world for me of being released from worshiping, the little G gods. She said hyper focus. That's her trigger. Am I hyper focusing on this? Am I churning about something? Am I ruminating on something? I've done everything that I know to do, through prayer and, God, giving me wisdom and a path. And after that, why am I still hyper focusing on this? I am turning it into an idol. I am telling God you're not fast enough. I know better. Show me some results. And I think that's when we know. That we are slipping from, focusing on the God to focusing on a problem. A problem can be a God, right?

Laurie:

Yeah. And you know what, what you're saying is really, really speaking to me right now in, in the perspective of, so I'm a writer. I've been a long term. Christian fiction writer. Now, I am expanding out into nonfiction and, this podcast is a extension of my nonfiction writing and. Even though my writing has always been a ministry, it's been my way of spreading God's love and God's word to the world. It's my ministry to the world, right? That doesn't mean that it may lose its focus on God and then instead through some mistakes that I may have made it could be the focus is on me and I'll describe how. I'm an independently published author. I have my own publishing. Im print, I don't use a publisher. So in my, attempt to. Publish books, which I've published, more than 20 some books. I'm in charge of everything. I'm in charge of the ideas, I'm in charge of the writing, the editing, the publishing, the distribution, the promotion, like everything. And you can see how without much involvement or responsibility, I could have a huge ownership in that and get really. Obsessed with, okay, I want people to read these books. I want people to buy these books. I want people to know about these books. There's two reasons why. One is I want people to read about God. I want people to learn about him and faith and how to, incorporate him into our daily lives. That's my main goal. But in the industry of independent publishing, there's this whole, path that independent authors go down to. Promote and to get more readers and, oh, have you done this kind of advertising and have you hit this bestseller list? Or how, how many followers do you have? How many this or that? And it becomes almost, not inspirational. It becomes secular. It's the same method that secular independent authors follow to try to get more readers, but. I always try, when I go down the rabbit hole, I always like pull it back. I'm like, no, no, no, God. And I always had an agreement. I would pray to him about what I was gonna write about. I would write it and then he would get it in front of the people that he wants to hear it or to read it or to understand it. And sometimes I start to think, well wait a minute. Am I. Going too far the other way because this writing career can be extremely absorbing, for anyone who's doing it, but especially for Christian authors to find that balance between, if God wants this reader to read this book, he will make it happen. And yes, I have to do everything that I can do to create a high quality book and to get the word out. I mean, it's, if I just publish a book and don't tell anyone, no one's gonna find it. I know that in today's world, but it's that balance. Does that make sense?

Allison Snyder:

Yes, yes, it makes total sense. An example of a woman who works, in the corporate world, she can go places with God's love that no one else can go. But yet, she's in a job where she might be working 50 hours a week, 60 hours a week. And it is a balance. I think what it takes is, praying to God, say, God, I don't know. You know, this is tiring me out, but yet I have this, this friend who I really feel like you're using me to, speak into her life, to be a comfort to her, to encourage her to read the Bible, come to church with me, you know? I think that it is a balance and I think sometimes it takes a willingness to, take risks and change.

Laurie:

Well, and your comment brought up another thought for me. I spent, 34 years in corporate America,

Allison Snyder:

did.

Laurie:

working in an office. I. Had different assignments throughout my career, and sometimes I would find myself in a position with people who were fellow believers and we could talk about that. And the way we, conducted ourselves, we tried to keep each other, consistent with our beliefs, but then often I would be reassigned and I would find myself in almost like a toxic work environment where I was stressed out every day because of how the people were treating each other. And I, remember, struggling with that and. Sharing with another, good friend who, is a believer, what is God doing, putting me here? It's just so. Toxic and nasty, and I just hate, the way people treat each other. And she said he's putting you here to be a witness to them. He thinks that you can shine a light in this environment to change things. And I'm like, oh, duh. It's not all about me.

Allison Snyder:

Yeah, boy can I relate to that? The old, well, God can't be using me because I don't like this, you know, this

Laurie:

Yes,

Allison Snyder:

is unpleasant. Oh boy. Can I relate to that? Yeah.

Laurie:

yes.

Allison Snyder:

also we want instantaneous, or at least I do, I've learned this. raising my daughter is that you have to take the long view in a lot of things,

Laurie:

That's so true. Yes.

Allison Snyder:

We say to God, I don't like this, I don't like the speed that you're moving at and making something happen, and he's not really interested in.

Laurie:

It's all about his timing, not ours.

Allison Snyder:

It is about his timing and he is interested and I think he does sympathize. You know, uh,

Laurie:

Yeah.

Allison Snyder:

he see, because scripture tells us that word is sympathize with one another and, he wouldn't tell us to do something to demonstrate a characteristic that he didn't have in himself as our heavenly Father. So yeah, he knows that we can't see everything. He knows, Hey, I see everything from the beginning to the end, which is very comforting. Come

Laurie:

Yeah,

Allison Snyder:

to think of it.

Laurie:

his sense of timing is so different than ours, obviously. In the book of Revelation, John wrote as he was documenting, the vision that Jesus gave to him. I will be back soon. And that was a long time ago that those words were written. But soon in God and Jesus' perspective is different than soon for our human perspectives. So.

Allison Snyder:

Yes, that's really true. And to remember about him, I was looking in the concordance this morning as I was thinking about our coming talk and, two Samuel, chapter 14, in it is verse 14

Laurie:

Okay.

Allison Snyder:

14. It's the second half of that verse, but God does not take away life. Instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.

Laurie:

Mm.

Allison Snyder:

that is not a father who is. Trying to make our lives miserable, and doesn't care. He is constantly looking at ways that a banished person may not remain estranged from him. And of course, the ultimate, demonstration of that verse is Jesus Christ himself.

Laurie:

Yes.

Allison Snyder:

sedation through Christ, through belief in him and him paying the price for our sin. And not only that, but defeating death itself and turning around and giving us that eternal life. He's a good God and what a wonderful reminder that is. To me as we talk about this,

Laurie:

Mm-hmm.

Allison Snyder:

I so hope your listeners too, that, it's patience and leaning into him and, turning it around as you say, going to him talking it out with him and telling him, you know, I'm scared, I'm angry and I don't understand. I thought I did X, Y, and Z, but you're doing A, B, and C. And, he gets it and

Laurie:

Yeah.

Allison Snyder:

shoulders he, he knows what we're thinking. We might as well give it to him. Right?

Laurie:

Yeah. And he wants that personal relationship with us.

Allison Snyder:

Yes.

Laurie:

Oh, that's great. You've given me so many things to think about today and so many things that, connect the dots. I love that when a bible verse, maybe at the first read doesn't make sense, but when you look into it a little further and think about applying it to your own life. Now the dots are connecting. That's the whole reason for this podcast. So I thank you again for being such an awesome guest. I'll look forward to inviting you again for a later essay.

Allison Snyder:

You are so dear and I am honored to be here. And one of the many wonderful things, is we, share these meaningful things. Not only are we blessed, but hopefully we get a chance to bless others and that's what God. That's the highest form of obedience is to love him and love other people by sharing what he's done,

Laurie:

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. I'm gonna go ahead and end it there, and I hope that you have a awesome day. It's a beautiful day here in the low country, so hopefully if you can tolerate the a hundred degree or 90 some degree temperature, you can. Have a nice day.

Allison Snyder:

Thank you so much, Laurie. Same to you.

Laurie:

Bye bye.

Allison Snyder:

Bye bye.

Speaker:

And that's it for today. Thank you very much for being here with me on The Year I Read the Bible Podcast. We'll be back with another episode next week. If you enjoy this podcast, please do all the normal things to spread the word: like it, review it, share it with your friends. If you are interested in additional The Year I Read the Bible resources such as the book, the video channel, and the blog, I will certainly include the links in the show notes. And I'd love to hear about your own journey to read the Bible cover to cover. Have you done it or are you doing it right now? Please reach out to me and let me know how it's going. Until next time, it's Laurie Larsen with The Year I Read the Bible. Bye.

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