Worshiping God Alone

Some years ago in Cairo, Egypt, I saw an image of Ra, the Egyptian sun god. Ra is portrayed as a colorful, striking figure with a falcon’s head and a sun disk perched above him. Ra was worshiped as the most important and powerful of the gods of ancient Egypt. But he wasn’t the only one; the Egyptians worshiped over 2,000 gods and goddesses.

Gathered at Mount Sinai after more than 400 years of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were familiar with Ra and other Egyptian gods. So it’s no surprise that in the first of the commandments God gave them, he said, “You shall have no other gods before me.”

The God who had brought Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 12- 14), who provided for their every need and made promises to them, also called his people to give him their sole allegiance. As the one true God, the Lord who made the heavens and the earth called Israel to worship him as their only God. He commanded them to worship him alone, trust only in him, look to him for every good thing, and humbly and patiently love him, fear him, and honor him with all of their heart, soul, and mind.

I saw Ra, the old sun god of Egypt, in a museum display of dusty, ancient history. Ra was just a figment of the Egyptians’ imagination. But the one true God, who is still with us today, is as living and active as ever, and he commands us to love and serve only him, with our whole being, as Jesus did.