The Asherah Poles

In the Old Testament, we read about Asherah poles. These were man-made idols that honored Asherah, a sea goddess and the mistress of Baal. She was the chief goddess of the Canaanites. Her worship glorified sex and war and was accompanied by male prostitution.

Throughout Jewish history, God's chosen people struggled with being distracted by idols. Throughout Israel and Judah, the Jews erected these Asherah poles for worshiping a false god. In fact, an Asherah pole was established in the temple by the evil King Manasseh (2 Kings 21:7). Can you imagine having an idol in God's house?

Well, the reality is that many of us struggle with idols in our own lives. Some of those idols can be found in our home, in our work and, yes, even in our church. If we're really honest, our idols could actually be our home, our work and our church (ie, our ministry).

It's not enough to stop our idolatry. We must follow the way of King Josiah. In 2 Kings 23, we read how he removed all of the remnants of idolatry from their culture. He tore down the Asherah poles and destroyed them.

You and I are called to do the same thing. We must identify the idols we have and not just stop recognizing them, but remove them and destroy them. That means it's time to clean house! It could mean it's time to change jobs. It could mean it's time to walk away from a ministry that has consumed you. It could mean it's time to leave a relationship that has become more important to you than the Lord.

Destroy the Asherah poles in your life today!