Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God…”  NASB

Exodus 20:3 – “You shall have no other gods before Me.”  NASB

Today, let’s move on to the second consideration of this First Commandment and hopefully glean some benefit that will help us both embrace the Commandment and grow spiritually.

THE ASSERTION OF THIS FIRST LAW IS – God is Available.

That reality is incredibly important.  He said, “I am the LORD thy God…thou shall not have any other gods before Me.”  Just coming to the conclusion that God exists is powerful but to have the God Who is available to man is incredible!

He is available to minister to our needs.  He is not an abstract, theoretical entity but the Living God!  He is not the figment of some ancient’s imagination, He is Real.  He is here, there, and everywhere all at once.  He is Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Omnipotent.  He is the Creator of all things!

There is no need for any person to ‘miss’ God.  God is available to us anytime and all the time.  I am reminded of the story of the prodigal son and the elder brother.  The younger brother was a waster, whereas he was a worker.  The younger son lived a corrupt wasteful disrespectful life and then came home and was received by the father.  The elder brother lived not as a son but as a slave.  Everything was his and available, but he never partook of it because of the misconception of who he was and what was available.  God is fully available to us for ‘whatever we need.’

The father of the elder brother said, “Son, you have been with me all this time, and all I have is yours!”  Simply, you didn’t take what was yours and lived as though you had nothing, but it was there all the time.  That’s the way it is with God.  He is there all the time and as Jesus said, “It is My Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

KNOWING GOD IS AVAILABLE – How Do We Enter into and Possess Our Inheritance?

There are certain conditions that must be met in order to possess and be possessed by the God Who Is.  There is a saying, “There is gold in them there hills.”  But for the gold to become ours we must mine it.  Someone said, “Reading makes a man full but until he reads, he remains empty.” 

I heard the story of a little boy who was learning to play the violin.  He worked at it for about an hour and declared, “There is no music in that violin.”  However, that same instrument in the hands of a master violinist produced wonderful music.  The absence of the music was due to the lack of preparation.  Sadly, some treat God the same way, they give it a little try and then give up.

Some fail to meet the conditions and fail to find God due to preoccupation.  I asked a man, “How can you ignore the existence of God?  You have seen him in your mother and grandmother.”  He said, “I keep busy and do not allow myself to think about God.”  Some try to put God out of existence through wishful thinking.  They continue to live a sinful and negligent life and hope God is not real.

What conditions are to be met?  It is found in the First Commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”  In another way of saying it, “If you will let all the other gods of your life go, then you can have the True and Living God!”

Some argue, “But I don’t have other gods.”  I counter with, “Yes we do!”  In too many ways and too many times, we are polytheists without realizing it.  We do not worship the Roman god Mars, but we worship what he stood for.  We no longer bow at the shrine of Venus, but we seek that which she stood for and seek pleasure.  We would never consider bowing at the altar of the god Bacchus, the god of drink and revelry but what he stood for is pursued religiously by millions.

Years ago, the city of Dayton, Ohio conducted a study to determine how the people of that city were spending the money.  The combined expenditures of the citizens revealed that people were spending more than $100,000 more per week on alcohol than groceries.  About 30 years ago a study was done on how people on some form of government relief spent their money.  They discovered that from 1933 to about 1985 those people had spent upwards of $3 Billion on drink far more than on food.

Jesus said, “If any man is willing to do His will, he will know His will.”  There is a road to spiritual certainty and that road is the Road of a Surrendered Life.  God surrounds us as much as the atmosphere in which we live and breathe.  He is standing at the door of our hearts and seeking to come in and fellowship with us. 

We are to have no other gods before the True and Living God!  He alone is worthy.  He is more than enough for whatever we need or face.  He is greater than all other powers and He desires to be Our God! 

If you are not now enjoying the benefits of having no other gods before Him, I urge you to turn your life completely over to Jesus!  He is waiting and will not turn you away!

God bless you as you enjoy this wonderful day in Him!