Articles
Answer According To Their Idols
Answer According To Their Idols
"…the word of the Lord came to me: “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? 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, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols" (Ezekiel 14:2-5).
That is one of the most frightening statements in the Bible. We all 'bring baggage' to our bible studies - preconceived ideas and desires of our hearts. If we study looking for an answer that we want to find, we will 'find it'. When you hit a problem passage that demands a change of your thoughts and actions, what do you do? Do you 'restudy' the passage? Or do you modify your actions to align with the Word of God?
There is a similar passage in the New Testament. Paul writes: "The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).
Bible study separates those who desire truth from those who just want convenient answers! Many people want to be approved of by God but they want Him to approve of them just the way they are. They want Him to accept them while they continue to live as they are living. Such will never work. Even in Ezekiel's day God's answer was to "repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations" (Ezek. 14:6).
In our day of exaggerated tolerance and acceptance, this message is desperately needed. God's ways are still not our ways and His thoughts are yet not our thoughts. WE must change. We MUST change. We must come to the bible to find truth and not to attempt to verify the idols of our heart.
