Daily Devotionals

2Ki 18:1-4, 1…Hezekiah … 2 …was twenty-five years old when he became king, …3 And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, …4 He …broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.

Every symbol loses its significance and value in proportion when idolized. The brazen serpent was symbol of the mercy of God and His Divine power. But when the Jews began to worship it, its worth departed. Israel turned a means into an object of worship, and Hezekiah in his time broke it into pieces.

Let me give an example of a symbol. I for one have had dreams of certain things, and I am convinced it was of the Lord, but for a different reason, to stir me up to pray. Now I am not to make the dreams the norm by which the Lord would press something into my heart. His word is sufficient, that is where I turn. If He chooses to strengthen something by a sign or wonder, my focus is not to shift to those things. Remember in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son (Heb 1:2).

All helps to devotion, not warranted by the word of God, interrupt the exercise of faith and tend to lead to superstition. Human nature perverts everything of this kind, the more reason to rely on His preserved word to keep us in line. True faith must not rely on such aids to build its confidence apart from the word. Symbols are God’s means to point us to Christ the Word.