When We Don't Fill the Vacuum

1 Samuel 19:13 (NIV) -

Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.

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Matthew 12:43-45 (NIV) -

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

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While reading through part of Saul's story in 1 Samuel again last night, I noticed something very interesting about this verse. In context, it's about something entirely different - Michal, Saul's daughter and David's wife, is helping David escape from Saul when Saul is trying to find and kill David. But there is a detail here which, in light of our recent discussions, caught my attention.

"Michal took an idol..." A couple of days ago, we discussed how Saul hadn't been completely thorough in removing the idols from his life - he had made an idol of himself and his pride, and he hadn't submitted that to God in humility. Now, much later, we see that Saul actually has idols in his house! Where Saul had once been called to remove the idols from the nation of Israel, clearing out the people who would turn the Israelites away from God, he is now leading them into that very idolatry himself. Because Saul had a mentality of, "completely destroyed... but," all of the idols that he had taken the time to remove had just ended up coming back anyway.

You'll see that I've also included one of Jesus' stories here. I think that it's relevant to Saul's situation, especially since 1 Samuel repeatedly describes Saul being under the influence of, "an evil spirit." (1 Samuel 16:14, 18:10, 19:9) Saul let one impure spirit, one idol, stick around in his life instead of destroying it. But that spirit grew in power, leading Saul away from God and bringing other spirits with it so that Saul ended up in the exact same state of idolatry that he had been called to fight against.

Watch out that the same doesn't happen to you. If you are going to take on the task of removing the idols in your life and submitting yourself to God, make sure that you are thorough. Ask God for His grace, because it is only by His grace that you'll actually be able to do it. Then, ask Him for His protection and His continued, sustaining grace to stay free from idolatry.

Like I said several posts ago, when there is a gap or a vacuum, something will always fill it. If we don't choose what that is, then the idols will come back in even stronger force than before. So what do we choose to fill the void with? That, finally, will be our next topic.