This is why you must now know,
and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God
in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.

The world is a changing place. Fortunately God and the Church are not. They remain constant in both their action and in their demands on us.

The first reading from Deuteronomy recounts all the Lord God did for the Jewish people. Moses is telling them to consider what has occurred. He is telling them to remember what they and their ancestors have seen and experienced.

He tells them to remember, worship, and praise God.

Guess what, it didn’t happen.

As soon as the Jewish people had a modicum of security they forgot God. They built altars to Baal. They erected Asherah poles. You know, God did not provide cheap proof of his power. Yet the people still forgot Him.

Take one of the judges, Gideon for example. The Judges came to the forefront when the Jewish people needed help. God called them up to the front to help.

Israel, having forsaken God had been plagued for seven years by incursions of the Madianites and other Eastern tribes. The people were humbled by the invaders. They finally turned to God who sent them a deliverer in the person of Gideon.

Gideon was first called by God while he was threshing wheat. Gideon received the difficult mission of freeing his people. He then built an altar to the Lord. In his second encounter with God on the following night, he was directed to destroy the village altar to Baal, and to erect one to Yahweh. After doing this the people, fresh from calling upon the help of the true God, screamed for Gideon’s death. They wanted to avenge their false god.

Gideon’s father saved his son’s life by a witty taunt, “Let Baal revenge himself!” As an aside, that similar to the story of St. Boniface who chopped down a tree that some people were worshipping as a god. After cutting down the tree he asked the people how their god felt.

Gideon took the lead of Israel against Madian, Amalec, and the other Eastern tribes who had crossed the Jordan, and encamped in the valley of Jezrael. Gideon was accompanied by 32,000 troops from throughout Israel and took up his position not far from the enemy.

But God was out to prove His power. God commanded Gideon to reduce his troop size. From an original army of 32,000 only 300 were left at the end, 300 troops against all the enemies of Israel. Gideon and 300 from the armies of Israel triumphed through the work of God alone. And, what did Israel wish to do? Grateful for their glorious deliverance, Gideon’s countrymen offered to make him a hereditary king.

Gideon declined with these words:

“I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, but Yahweh shall rule over you.”

Gideon remembered, praised, and worshipped God. Israel already had forgotten who had saved them.

So here we sit on this Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. We sit in this church surrounded by godliness and all that is holy. We sit in the very presence of Jesus Christ in this tabernacle. And we must decide. Who, what, and where is our god? Is God your Lord and master? What about the Baal you keep at home or the office? What about the Asherah pole you have fashioned and set up?

The Jewish people kept their fascination with the Asherah pole right through the Old Testament. God told the people through Moses:

“Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the LORD your God,”

Yet we hear of the people doing that very thing right through the time of the prophet Jeremiah. A pole set up to a false god right next to God’s altar. A pole set up to praise a god who feasted on the sacrifice of children. I guess the people thought that they needed some kind of extra boost the Lord God was not giving them.

So where does your faith lie? Where does your power come from? Moses successor Joshua put it very plainly:

“Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

St. Paul goes on to tell us that we are co-heirs with Christ.

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,

Then he tells us what is required:

if only we suffer with him
so that we may also be glorified with him.

Giving up your false gods and your comforts is not easy —“ but making that change —“ changing your very heart is required. God will not change His mind. God will not go back on His promises to you.

The command of Jesus is constant:

“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And He assures us that He is with us always.

That is the God I remember, worship, praise, and adore. That is the God who is constant. That is the God this Church proclaims and serves.

Praise Him today and every day. Love Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and body. Sacrifice and glory in your sufferings if they be for Christ. You are His adopted sons and daughters. There is no greater honor. There is no greater challenge.