What's in the Bible? The Ten Commandments (2/10): Thou Shalt Not Have Any Other Gods Before Me

The second of the ten commandments is: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;  and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."  (Exodus 20:3-6, Mosiah 12:35-36)

You'll notice I have combined what Christianity calls the first and second commandments as the second. This is partly because the Jews from whom this text comes do it this way, and partly because, to me, it just makes more sense.

Learn about the "Ten Statements" at JewFAQ.org

This commandment has to do with where we direct our worship - our efforts to obtain the things we need from our God or gods. People put all kinds of thought and all kinds of effort into trying to obtain their happiness through things other than God, and in the scriptures this is symbolized by bowing down and serving other gods. But happiness is a spiritual principle, and it results from the application of spiritual laws. The first law of spiritual happiness is trust in God and his ability and desire to take care of us. The second is that we must be willing to learn and make whatever sacrifices He requires of us in order to have His tender care. There are many symbols in the scriptures for the Lord's tender care: the tree of life and its fruit, living water, bread, and light to name a few. (see 1 Nephi 8:9-12, 1 Nephi 11:21-23, John 8:12, 3 Nephi 11:9-11, Alma 5:33-34)

If we could know of the Lord's great love for each of us, we would have no need of anything we cannot have with His help to be happy. He has more than enough love, more than enough power and more than enough wisdom to guide us in all things and to fill emotional holes that so often drive us to sin. He wants to fill those holes for us, so that we have no need of sin! He wants to give us that gift, even the gift of salvation from sin, by way of being our Good Shepherd!

To a woman at a well in Samaria, the Savior said it this way:

"If thou knewest the gift of God, ...thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:10-14)

To have this living water in our lives, all we have to do is ask the Lord for it, and be willing to at least try and do the things we know He expects of us. There is no need to work so hard trying to find happiness in other places when we know it can only be found in the Lord's tender care. Isaiah taught:

"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." (Isaiah 55:1-2)

Knowing and experiencing the love God has for you will change you, motivate you to sacrifice for Him. The prophet Moroni recorded the words of his father, Mormon, who said:

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him" (Moroni 7:48)

We have so often petitioned our false gods in search of things we want and need - temporal things as well as spiritual. But the answer we have from the living God is this:

"...seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and [the Father's] righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. " (Matthew 6:25-33)

The more I work with Him, the more I feel Him guiding me to do not just the things He asks of me, but things that will eventually lead to me and my family having more of the things we want and need in the kind of abundance to which only the Good Shepherd can lead me.

When we love our God enough to work hard to have Him in our lives, we find His influence growing. We find His blessings everywhere. Even though things are still hard, we find moments where we can feel Him helping us bear our burdens, endure our trials, and win our battles. Loving God gets Him involved in our lives, and having the living God of heaven and of earth care enough to get involved in our lives does great things for our sense of worth in His sight!

 
 Turning to God for Happiness and the Things We Need

Throughout the history of religion, people have turned to their gods for things they needed but felt they could not obtain on their own. Men have petitioned gods of nature for the return of the sun in winter, for the outpouring of rain in spring, and even for fertility or as a way to understand things that seemed too mysterious to know any other way. 

In modern times, we have a tendency to place our happiness in obtaining more "things" or having more friends or climbing a corporate or social ladder. In our daily lives, we have coping mechanisms, habits, and even addictions we turn to for specific things. We turn to science for understanding - a practice that creates as much error as truth and introduces us to more questions than answers. Whether we realize it or not, to the extent we depend upon these things for our happiness or understanding,  these things too have become our gods.


Making Ourselves Gods Before Him

The other thing we do is turn inward for answers instead of counseling with our God. Increasingly, our society labels as immoral things that come from God. Things like opposing abortion or supporting capital punishment or preaching against sexual sin are increasingly considered hateful. Defending your freedoms and your religion with your life is increasingly becoming considered an act of terrorism. Our society has so completely lost its moral bearings that in many cases its definition of morality is diametrically opposed to the laws of God. But to disregard the laws of God in any respect is to make of ourselves gods in His place, to make ourselves wiser than the Author of all wisdom and more moral than the Gatekeeper of the strait and narrow way. This will not be without its consequences. For more of what I mean, see my article on morality in an immoral world.

 
Beneath His Watchful Eye

Loving God means choosing the love and good grace of the living God of heaven and of earth exclusively over all these other things, turning to Him with a willingness to believe we will receive according to our needs and wants if we will do our part. (Matthew 21:22, 3 Nephi 18:20, Doctrine and Covenants 11:5, Alma 7:12, Hebrews 4:14-16) We will not truly be able to keep this commandment until we trust that the Lord is infinitely more capable of - and more committed to - taking better care of us than any other god, anything else, and anyone else beside or before Him. Conversely, the level of our experience in His care will determine the level of our consistency in turning to Him as a first, last, and only resort, not having any other gods before Him. It's a self-building cycle. (Mosiah 5:13, Matthew 6:19-30)