What's your Idol?

Back in Biblical days, idols had names ... names that described gods who were literally worshipped by pagans. Names like Baal (the Canaanite fertility god), Adremelech (god worshipped by child sacrifice), and Ishtar (represented fertility, so temple prostitutes were put into place for worshipping this goddess). And, when you read about these idols/gods, you tend to place an assumptive definition for the word idol - that an idol is a deity that you worship. And, the worship is similar to the worship that Christians would raise up to Yaweh (Jesus).

But, the truth of the matter is that there is a very lucrative idol that is worshipped in the United States that is under the disguise of "Education/Knowledge/Research". I have family members who are afraid to make a single move without fully researching a matter or thoroughly planning a matter but who don't really take the effort to pray about the matter. I understand that we have knowledge at our fingertips and that it should be used for our benefit, but where is the fine line between relying on our own smarts versus relying on God himself?

Did He or did He not create our entire galaxy and neighboring galaxies with nothing more than a Word? And, if that is true, then how is it that we tend to fall into the deceptive lie that our knowledge far exceeds the faith that is required to live our lives by trusting in God and God alone? When Abraham realized that his 'business' and Lot's 'business' could not survive in the same land, he did not do market studies to figure out where would be the next best move. Rather, he told Lot to choose which land he wanted! Abraham had enough faith to believe that regardless of how good the land conditions were or how bad, that his prosperity and his success lay in God - not in the wealth of the land.

How horrible that the very thing our parents sacrificed for (our education) has become the undercover idol in our lives.