Swallowing Up the Idols

I pulled the borrowed blue coat tighter around me and followed our guide. I hadn’t expected the weather in Iceland to feel so cold in May. After graduating from college, I’d ministered for a year in Romania and then returned to my hometown. When my younger brother completed his own degree, we went on a backpacking adventure around Iceland. First, we spent a few days near the capitol then traveled to a town near the Arctic Circle. We joined a group exploring an area called Lake My’vatn. We climbed in dormant volcanic craters and observed snow melting at the edges of creeks flowing with geothermally heated water. I marveled at the glory of God’s creation. However, the most awe-inspiring display of the Maker’s creativity that we witnessed was the waterfall Godafoss, “waterfall of the gods.” Our guide explained the history of this colossal cascade of water: Around the turn of the tenth century, there was a massive meeting of the pagan parliament and the Christian parliament that could have easily turned violent. They couldn’t agree on whether Christianity should become the national religion. Eventually they all decided that Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði, a pagan priest and leader in the pagan parliament, should make the decision. After a day and night in silent contemplation (some sources say he spent this time under his fur cloak), he said that Christianity should be the national religion but that people may practice paganism privately in their own homes as long as they didn’t practice publicly. Although he himself had been a pagan priest, Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði chose Christianity. According to legend, he then expressed his own faith conversion by throwing his Norse idols into Godafoss. Beginning his life in Christ, this man flung his idols where they could never be retrieved. God’s power—stronger than that tremendous surge of water—takes us out of sin and brings us into life in Christ when we trust Him for forgiveness. God’s might overcomes our idols, whether they are physical representations of false gods or othe