Ezekiel 23:35-39: a reflection

35“Therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear your lewdness and your prostitution.’” 36The LORD said moreover to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. 37For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured. 38Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 39For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, they have done this in the middle of my house.

This is a hard and disturbing passage, a graphic indictment of God's people for their idolatry, pictured in the strongest terms. Set aside its severe imagery, and notice the root of it all, which God names plainly: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back. Beneath all the idolatry and unfaithfulness lay this: they had forgotten God, and cast him behind their back, out of mind and out of the way, treating him as something to be put behind them rather than kept before them.

Notice how God describes the root of their sin: they had cast him behind their back. It is a vivid image, of taking God, who should be kept before us, ever in view, at the center of our attention, and throwing him behind us, out of sight, out of mind. When God is cast behind the back, when he is no longer kept before us, then the way is open for every kind of turning away; forgetting God is the root from which unfaithfulness grows.

That names a danger for us too. We may not fall into the gross idolatry pictured here, but we can do the root of it: cast God behind our back, push him out of mind, live as though he were not there, no longer keeping him before us. And when God is out of view, we drift. The remedy is to keep God ever before us, not behind our back; to keep him in mind, at the center of our attention, in view as we go about our lives. Do not cast God behind your back, out of sight and out of mind. Keep him before you, remember him, set him always in view; for the God kept before us holds our hearts, while the God cast behind us is soon forgotten, and forgetting him is the root of turning away.

Lord, beneath all the sin in this hard passage lay the root you named plainly: because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back. Warn me by that. It is a vivid image, of taking you, who should be kept before me, ever in view, at the center of my attention, and throwing you behind me, out of sight, out of mind. When you are cast behind the back, no longer kept before me, the way is open for every kind of turning away; forgetting you is the root from which unfaithfulness grows. I may not fall into gross idolatry, but I can do the root of it: push you out of mind, live as though you were not there, no longer keeping you before me. Keep me from casting you behind my back. Help me keep you ever before me, remember you, set you always in view as I go about my life. The God kept before me holds my heart, while the God cast behind me is soon forgotten. Keep me mindful of you, Lord.