Exodus 20:3 NKJV - “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
I saw this verse and saw interesting things I did not see before. This famous first of the 10 commandments is so familiar to me that I never saw anything else other than we were not supposed to have any other gods besides Yaweh. Today, I saw the following:
You shall have a God. (You cannot “have no other gods” unless you have at least one. So, ponder what a god is and think about what it means to have one - especially the one true God. You do not need a god for what you can do yourself. You need a god to help with what you cannot do. A god is supposed to be supernatural.)
You shall have only ONE God. (Once you decide who is God to you, no one and nothing else can take His place. Your god will not be favorable to you if you refuse to obey and serve Him. If you treat Him like a genie you will not be very successful. A god requires certain things in order to enjoy his benefits. Our God is good and kind and merciful even to those who are disobedient. However, the disobedient will see His goodness with the intent that they will repent and do what is right. God is not mocked. If you only have one god, then the rules you follow will not be what someone else decides upon. You will follow His instructions and no one else’s if they contradict Him.)
There will be no competition with other gods. No one can be compared to our God. That includes any person (doctor, teacher, governmental officer, family member, etc.) Nobody should be allowed to override what God said.