Ezekiel 14:1–5 (ESV) —
1 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.
NOTE: The idols were in their hearts. They were believing the lies of the culture. They had created thoughts that were against God. They wanted things (their hearts) that were against God's word -- God calls it a stumbling block of iniquity. Idols do not have to be an image or a physical thing. An idol is anything that we take into our heart that opposes God or his word. And God's response is that God does not need to answer that person. They have their answer, they are just hoping God's answer might agree with the desire in their heart. Whenever we say, in response to a hard teaching from God's word, "well, my God is not like that …," we have created an idol in our heart. We have chosen what we fashioned over what God has said. And we have placed a wall between God and our prayers.
PONDER:
- Where do we ignore Gods' word because it is not what we want to believe?
PRAYER: Father, open my eyes that I may see where I am fashioning idols in my life. I want to obey your word, not what my sinful self desires.
No comments:
Post a Comment