Ezekiel 6:1-14 Broken & Defiled
God tells Ezekiel to “speak to the mountains” surrounding Jerusalem. The words are for the people and the alters they made. They will be broken and defiled.
God tells Ezekiel to speak to the mountains but His words are actually for the people. The ones who are refusing to listen. “Every alter you have built will be broken and defiled by ME! They will be defiled with YOUR blood that I pour out on them. Let’s see those ‘gods’ save you.”
It’s not the tree or mountain’s fault that the people built alters to false gods there. If it were possible, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the trees withheld their shade and the mountains shook the altars off their backs. The people built these abominations, not the mountains. But the people wouldn’t recognize their own sins unless God pointed them out specifically. He laid His finger on EXACTLY where and what they were being punished for.
Man is GOOD as saying, “But I wasn’t joining in” on the bad things. We delude ourselves FAR too easily. “God won’t mind this just once.” The ‘just once’ turns into a pattern for our lives. Israel’s certainly had. Judah’s too. God said, “ENOUGH!” This wasn’t before He offered them EVERY opportunity to turn back to Him. With most of the kings who did bring the people back, they still kept going to their idols.
It’s time. “You love your idols so much, let’s see what YOUR blood looks like on the altars you erected. God didn’t stop at one. He would destroy them ALL. None were hidden from Him. He saw into EVERY quiet spot and under every leafy tree. The people were not looking for Him but He was watching them.
God’s heart broke a little more each day as the people continued to run after false gods. They showed their utter lack of faith in God by doing this. It pointed toward the limits of their beliefs. They were willing to put their faith in something they could hold in their hands. NOT because this thing proved itself ‘trust worthy’ but because they could conceptualize it. They could ‘lay their hands on’ their gods this way. But didn’t they see that they were ONLY pretending? Didn’t they realize that these gods only held whatever ‘power’ they chose to ascribe to them? What good is a god that YOU have to give power to?!
A second thing chasing after idols allowed the people to do is to choose their own standard of behavior. When YOU decide what your ‘god’ desires or requires, you can make ANYTHING acceptable. Sacrificing your own children in the fire, or on the altar of ‘convivence’, is a perfect example. But if EVERYTHING is acceptable, where will the lines of society be drawn? Why don’t we remove ALL laws. Let each man decide for himself what is good and what is bad. Even the worst of people recognizes THIS kind of thinking as dangerous! How can you trust a piece of wood to tell you what is evil or good?
I find it interesting that the people performed the same kinds of ‘homage’ to the false gods that God put into His Laws. The humbling themselves, the offering of prayers, the presentation of sacrifices and offerings. I believe these things are part of man’s makeup. Even the worst of us recognize that we are not masters of all we survey. Some may try to be but they can only reach so far before they, and others, begin to wonder about their sanity. Even the men who believed themselves gods KNEW there were limits to their power. They recognized the elements, life and death as areas where their hands couldn’t reach.
There is NOTHING beyond God’s reach. Heaven and earth obey His voice. Even all the forces of Hell obey Him. HE sets the standards and puts them into man’s heart. HE inspires us to seek something beyond ourselves. He made us with a desire to find our Maker. Looking ANYWHERE but at HIM is worthless and delusional. Those who have never known Him have an excuse. But those who HAVE known Him and thrown Him over for some imitation; I have NO WORDS that can adequately describe the absurdity of it!
Something that just came to my mind are the words of the Israelites while Moses was up on the mountain so long. “Make for us gods.” They KNEW they needed someone higher than themselves. They were not complete on their own. Too bad they went looking in the wrong place. And they were still looking in Ezekiel’s time. They wanted their gods to accept anything they wanted and to conform to their standards, while STILL being over them. Sorry folks, NOT possible.
God had given His people EVERYTHING they needed. He had provided them with structure, incentives and consequences, and even arranged a way for them to communicate with one another. When they first turned away, He ‘snapped His fingers in front of their faces’ to get their attention. By Ezekiel’s time, He had done EVERYTHING He could do to get their attention. Nothing was working and their behavior had become so repugnant that it brought God to His ‘breaking point. HE wasn’t the one going to break. THEY were. If they wanted ANY relationship with Him they would. And He was going to show them EXACTLY what they were missing without His protection and favor.
Father God, I NEVER want to exchange our relationship for ANYTHING else. NOTHING compares to You. Not wealth. Not power. Not fame. Not ‘freedom’. NOTHING. And NOTHING in this world even comes close to having the power You do! YOU created the WHOLE universe! How could ANY of it surpass You?! I know I’ve had to learn some lessons the ‘hard way’. I PRAY this NEVER becomes one of them!
