What Are You Running To?
The Breanna Williams Podcast | Season 3: EXODUS | Episode 4: What Are Your Idols
Scripture
"Aaron made the gold calf. Then they said, 'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.'"— Exodus 32:4 (NIV)
"You shall have no other gods before me."— Exodus 20:3 (ESV)
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Devotional
Here's the question nobody wants to sit with:
When things get hard — when the goal gets difficult, when God feels distant, when the obstacle shows up that you weren't expecting — what do you run to?
Because whatever you run to is your idol.
And I know that word sounds extreme. We think idols are carved statues in ancient temples. We don't think they're our phones, our relationships, our shopping carts, or the person we keep calling when we're lonely at 11pm. But an idol is anything that steps in to fill the void or take away the pain that only God was meant to handle. And if we're honest, most of us have a list.
In Exodus 32, the Israelites built a golden calf and declared it the god who brought them out of Egypt. When I first read that, I thought — wait. These are God's chosen people. They watched plague after plague. They walked through a parted sea on dry ground. How do you get from that to this?
But the more I sat with it, the more I understood.
These people had been in bondage for 400 years. A new Pharaoh had risen who didn't know Joseph's story and didn't care. Generation after generation grew up enslaved, and the God of their forefathers — Yahweh — had gone quiet, at least as far as they could tell. So they did what people do when the pain is too loud and the silence feels too long: they adopted what was around them. They absorbed the culture, the religion, the gods of Egypt, because those gods at least felt present. At least felt visible.
And now Moses goes up the mountain and doesn't come back for 40 days. And the waiting becomes unbearable. So they melt their gold and build something they can see.
I'm not judging them. I've done it too. Just with different materials.
I've run to men when I felt unloved — not because those relationships were wrong, but because I was using them to fill a void that only God could reach. The approval. The confidence. The feeling of being wanted. And every time that relationship ended, every insecurity I had handed over came rushing right back. Because the idol didn't actually fix anything. It just postponed the pain.
I've run to shopping when I felt out of control. At least I could control what I bought. At least something was mine to decide. But the moment the newness wore off, I needed something new to feel the control again.
I ran to my mom before I ran to God. She has the best intentions — nothing wrong with her. But I had made her the first call instead of the last resort. I was going to a resource instead of the source. And I kept getting good advice that wasn't working, wondering why — until I realized I had replaced God with someone who loves me but cannot do what God does.
I ran to my Navy rank. That rank gave me power, approval, a sense of self. And when I got out, the question hit like a wall: who am I? Because I had let the rank answer that question instead of letting God answer it.
Here's the thing about idols though — they're not fake. That's what people miss. The enemy is real. The comfort those things bring is real. Drugs genuinely numb pain. Approval genuinely fills something. That relationship genuinely makes you feel less alone. Satan doesn't show up with nothing; he shows up with something that works — just enough, just for a moment, just enough to keep you coming back.
But it's limited. Always limited. In Exodus, when Aaron's staff became a snake, the Egyptian magicians did the same thing — but Aaron's snake swallowed theirs. When the Nile turned to blood, the Egyptians could mimic it but couldn't reverse it. Later, when the lice came, they couldn't replicate it at all. God allowed the enemy to do just enough to keep people confused — but never enough to win. Because He holds all the power.
Your idol can soothe you. It cannot deliver you.
The children of Israel were worshiping that calf and still in bondage. The calf didn't get them out of Egypt. Yahweh did. Whatever you're running to right now when life gets hard — it is not getting you out of Egypt. It's keeping you comfortable enough to stay.
And here's the part that stopped me cold: the trip from Egypt to Canaan was a 10 to 11 day walk. It took them 40 years.
Forty years. Because they kept turning back to what was familiar instead of pressing forward into what God promised.
I cannot do 40 years. I refuse. And I don't think you can afford it either.
God isn't withholding the promised land to be cruel. He's not elevating you into your purpose while you're still in a mindset that would hand the credit to an idol. If He sent you into everything He's promised right now — in your current heart posture — you wouldn't give Him the glory. You'd give it to the thing you've been leaning on. And He loves you too much to let that happen.
So the work isn't just moving forward. The work is asking: what am I running to when it gets hard? And then — why?What void does it fill? What pain does it take away? And where did that void and that pain come from in the first place?
Trace it back. Go all the way to the root. And when you get there, invite Holy Spirit in. Because the truth will set you free — but you have to be willing to find the lie first.
The promised land is still yours. The yes hasn't changed. But it's time to put down the calf.
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Reflection Questions
When life gets difficult and God feels distant or silent, what do you instinctively run to for comfort or relief? What does that thing give you — approval, control, love, numbness?
Breanna makes an important distinction: "There's nothing wrong with shopping. It's the heart posture that's the issue." Is there something in your life that isn't bad in itself but has become the first place you go instead of God?
The Israelites' 10-day journey took 40 years. What area of your life feels like it's taken far longer than it should? Is there an idol — something you've been running to — that may be contributing to the detour?
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Prayer
Father,
I'll be honest — I didn't realize how many things I had handed Your job to. I've been calling it coping. I've been calling it self-care. I've been calling it just the way I am.
But today I'm asking you to show me what I reach for when things get hard. Show me what's filling the voids You were meant to fill. Show me what I've been using to take away a pain only You can heal.
I don't want to take the 40-year route. I don't have that kind of time, and I don't want to arrive at the promise and realize I've been giving the credit to something that didn't deliver me.
I want to go to the Source. Not a resource. Not a substitute. You.
Show me the idol. Show me the root. And then do what only You can do — remove the lie, replace it with truth, and get me moving again.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
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Declarations
Speak these out loud. Let them land.
I will have no other gods before Yahweh — not approval, not comfort, not control. He is my source. (Exodus 20:3)
Whatever I have been running to for relief, I release it. Only God can deliver me from bondage — not the idol that keeps me comfortable in it.
The promised land is still mine. God's yes has not changed. I choose to align my heart posture with His promise.
I refuse the 40-year detour. I am tracing the lie back to the root and inviting Holy Spirit to replace it with truth.
There is nothing wrong with resources — but I will go to the Source first. Always.
I am not defined by what I run to in hard seasons. I am defined by who God says I am — and He says I am free.
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Season 4: EXODUS — The Breanna Williams Podcast. "Idols don't just replace God — they delay destiny."