Ezekiel 14.1-11
Idolatrous Elders Condemned
14 Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. 2 And the word of the Lord came to me: 3 “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? 4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, 5 that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.
6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. 7 For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the Lord will answer him myself. 8 And I will set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 9 And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 10 And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike— 11 that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God.” [1]
Ok, so this is another one of those amazing chapters where we get some understanding about God’s love and passion, nature, and character, and I encourage you to read through the whole chapter to get a clear picture of what’s unfolding, but for now, we're only going to focus on these few verses today.
These verses really just blow me away.
God knows EVERYTHING! God is everywhere and knows everything, including what's in your heart. The men who came before Ezekiel may seem good on the outside through their appearance, status, and actions, but notice what's repeated again and again: "in his heart." God knows what's in their heart. These guys have set up idols in their hearts. Not physical idols to which they pray, sacrifice, or worship. These idols are in their hearts.
A great question for us to wrestle with is, “What is at the center of your heart?” If Jesus isn’t at the center, then what is? Because the truth is that we will let something take that place, the Lord’s rightful place, at the center of our hearts. So what will it be?
Does everything filter through Christ as the center of all things for you, or does your heart go after other things: lust, material possessions, pride, relationships, status, or something other—even things that are good? If those things, even good things or neutral things, become the center of a life, then that becomes an idol in a person’s heart.
As Christians, we know that this is not good. If we’ve read through the story of Scripture, we know how idol worship was constantly a problem for the people of God, and into the New Testament, we know that the culture was filled with idols and that followers of Jesus struggled with letting idols take the place of Christ. Guess what, nothing has changed! Our culture is filled with idols that want and demand our attention and devotion. We too need to hear the Lord's call to repent and return to Him.
What I love about this passage is that it reminds us of one of the Lord’s great characteristics—amazing and astonishing—the omniscience of God (God knows everything). Why try to hide our failings and shortcomings? God already knows about it. Why not take those things to Him so that they can be dealt with and our relationship with the Lord can be in the right place, with Christ at the center of our hearts?
I was just thinking of something very funny that hits on this point. When my daughter Kary was just about two years old, she loved to play hide-and-seek, but she was terrible at it. It wasn't because she couldn't hide very well; it was because she lacked some knowledge and understanding. You see, she believed that when she closed her eyes, she thought no one could see her because she couldn't see anyone. She would sit in the middle of the room with her eyes closed and "hide" by doing so.
Of course, I could plainly see her there, but I pretended I couldn't for her sake, and it was loads of fun watching her smile and laugh as I pretended I couldn't see her. But the reality was I could, I could see her standing right there. The reality is that God sees everything about us—even our hearts, our thoughts, even when we think no one sees us… God does. He can see everything about us. Why try to hide? Why waste any more time and energy on this fool’s effort? Why not deal with it, grow, become better, and be reconciled to the Lord?
So the question I find myself wrestling with on a constant basis is this: “What is trying to take the place of Jesus at the center of my heart?” Remember, it doesn’t have to be something “bad”; it can be something good (like a relationship, family, healthy living). By definition, an idol is anything that tries to take the place of Christ at the center of your heart and life.
God bless you, and know that I am praying for you.
Scott