Ezekiel 14:6-11: a reflection

6“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Return, and turn yourselves from your idols! Turn away your faces from all your abominations. 7“‘“For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live in Israel, who separates himself from me and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me, I the LORD will answer him by myself. 8I will set my face against that man and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 9“‘“If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from among my people Israel. 10They will bear their iniquity. The iniquity of the prophet will be even as the iniquity of him who seeks him, 11that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God,” says the Lord GOD.’”

Through Ezekiel, God calls his people to repentance with a striking phrase. He speaks of those who take their idols into their hearts and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces, even while coming to inquire of God. The problem God names is not only idols set up in temples, but idols set up in the heart, inward idolatry, secret allegiances that rival God, harbored even by those who outwardly seek him. And God calls them plainly: Repent and turn away from your idols; turn your faces from all your abominations.

Notice the phrase: idols in the heart. God's concern is not only with visible, external idols, but with the idols we set up inwardly, in our hearts, the things we secretly love, trust, or serve more than God, even while we outwardly seek him. A person could come to inquire of God while harboring an idol in the heart, an inward allegiance that rivaled him. And God sees these hidden idols, and calls us to turn from them.

That is a searching call to examine our own hearts. We may have no carved idols, but we can still set up idols in our hearts, things we love, trust, or serve above God, secret allegiances that rival him even while we outwardly seek him. God sees these inward idols, and calls us to turn from them. Examine your own heart for its idols, the things that quietly hold the place that belongs to God alone, the loves and trusts and allegiances that rival him. And heed God's call: repent, and turn from the idols of your heart. God wants not only our outward observance but our undivided hearts, free of the idols we harbor within.

Lord, through Ezekiel you spoke of those who take their idols into their hearts even while coming to inquire of you, and you called them to repent and turn from their idols. Search my own heart for its idols. I may have no carved images, but I can still set up idols in my heart, things I love, trust, or serve above you, secret allegiances that rival you even while I outwardly seek you. You see these inward idols, and call me to turn from them. Show me the things that quietly hold the place that belongs to you alone, and help me repent and turn from them. You want not only my outward observance but my undivided heart, free of the idols I harbor within. Cleanse my heart of its idols, and let me love and trust and serve you above all.