Like Peter, our gaze shifts from Christ to focus on the storm, looking to temporal things for rescue instead of our faithful Lord. This unbelief assaults God’s glory, arrogantly dismissing His all-sufficiency as if He were not enough. It must be confessed and repented of. But thank God He has not left us alone in our idolatry and need! In His rich mercy, He has provided the way for us to batach in Him through the gift of His Son Jesus Christ.

In this series, I take our law homily from our church gathering each week (The law homily is where we read from the law of God and let His law examine our hearts so that we can be a tender-hearted and repenting people), and I post them here for your edification. Here is this week’s law homily on the prohibition against mental idolatry. 

“Batach:” A Call to Radical Dependence

In the opening words of the Ten Commandments, God issues a clear directive: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). This command strikes at the heart of what it means to truly trust God – to give Him our undivided loyalty and devotion. The Hebrew word translated as “trust” is batach, which vividly portrays leaning one’s whole weight onto something, relying upon it entirely.

To batach, to genuinely trust and lean wholly on God, requires letting go of all other supports. It means making Him alone the unrivaled object of our faith, confidence, and reliance. The Hebrew conveys the precise image of shifting our total weight onto the Lord’s sure and sturdy foundation.

Imagine a hiker navigating a treacherous mountain pass. The path is narrow and unstable, and hazards loom. Each step poses the real peril of slipping into the abyss below. But this hiker has something to batach in—a sturdy walking stick to lean on, to transfer their total weight to, providing confidence amid the dangers. Without that trusty stick, every stride would be reckless and could prove catastrophic. With it, the hiker can journey safely by bataching, leaning on its unwavering strength.

Such radical dependence is the picture of truly bataching, of genuinely trusting in God. This life is treacherous; the way is strewn with difficulties and unsettling circumstances. To attempt walking it alone, self-reliant, and grasping at flimsy, false supports is to court disaster. But when we batach in the Lord and deliberately transfer all our weight onto His strength, wisdom, and promises, we can journey confidently, no matter the rocky terrain or hazards we face. Our feet remain firmly planted by wholly relying on the immovable foundation of God’s faithfulness.

The heroes of Scripture model this kind of reckless trust for us. The Israelites batached in God as they walked through the parted Red Sea on dry ground. David batached as he faced the giant Goliath, declaring his confidence was in the Lord’s deliverance. The prophet Habakkuk resolved to rejoice in God’s salvation no matter what calamity befell, saying, “Yet I will batach in the God of my salvation.” These examples reveal that bataching is more than intellectual assent; it is the deliberate, continual transfer of one’s whole situation and weight onto the Lord.

Forsaking Flimsy Idols

In stark contrast, we often lean on the flimsy reeds of wealth, power, status, or human relationships for security.

Read More