SEVERING IDOLS: THE NIGHT THE WALL CAVED IN 007

SEVERING IDOLS: THE NIGHT THE WALL CAVED IN

I told myself I’d never be like him. And then one night… I shoved my son into a wall.

That’s how idols fall, though - not in quiet little prayer sessions. Not at men’s retreats with acoustic worship in the background.

But in the middle of your son’s room—when the pressure finally bursts through the cracks.

You see, that night I didn’t have a short fuse - I had no fuse - I snapped.

Not because I didn’t love my son, God knows I did, or because I was checked out. I was coaching his siblings, doing Holy Hour in the mornings, running, praying, trying.

But I was also drinking, a lot, almost every night.

I was also burying my disappointments in silence and control.

And I was also watching him disappear into video games and isolation—while I was too emotionally bankrupt to intervene with presence, not just punishment.

What made it worse was how normal I looked from the outside.

I wasn’t passed out on the couch - I was performing. I was coaching, building - I showing up. But my identity was hanging by a thread.

Work felt like failure. Home felt like pressure. God felt far—even though I was “checking the boxes.”

And then the wall-caved-in.

I saw the look on my kid’s face and I felt it in my bones: You just became the thing you swore you’d never be.

1 Samuel 5. Dagon vs. the Ark.

The Philistines put the Ark of God next to their god, Dagon - Big mistake, yuuge mistake!

The next morning, Dagon was facedown.

The morning after that, his head and hands were cut off.

That’s how God deals with idols: not by sharing space—but by toppling them.

That night in my house? That was my Dagon moment.

The moment when the God I claimed to follow said, “Enough!”

Not with shame, but with mercy……but a mercy that cut.

And now that I’m on the other side, let me name the idol clearly:

Performance.

It was my god. It ruled my decisions, it shaped how I fathered, it bled into how I disciplined, it controlled what I celebrated—and what I couldn’t tolerate.

So what do we do when the idol falls?

Let it fall…Don’t prop it back up with your next to-do list.

Don’t tape it together with busyness or shame.

Don’t reframe it as “just a bad day.”

God doesn’t want to fit in with your life. He wants to rule it—with love, not tyranny. With truth, not performance. And when His presence truly shows up? The idols fall.

But here’s the difference between how the world speaks and how God moves:

The world says: “Don’t be too hard on yourself - just tweak a few things.”

God says: “Tear down the altar - I want all of you.”

The world says: “Find balance.” God says: “Seek first the kingdom.”

The world says: “Add God to the mix.” God says: “There is no mix. I AM.”

So here’s the question for this season:

What are you placing beside God… that needs to be remove…what is your Dagon

• Is it the constant need to prove yourself?

• Is it the drinking you still think you’re managing?

• Is it the identity you’ve handed to your kids through an addiction to youth sports

• Is it the way your calendar treats the Kingdom like a side hustle?

Whatever it is—He won’t coexist with it.

He’ll knock it over. Again and again. And eventually, He’ll dismantle it completely. Not to shame you. But to free you.

Because every proud heart must bow. And when it finally does? That’s where the healing begins.

Let Him sever what’s false. Let Him be King.

“Lord, sever every idol. Start with mine.”