Ezekiel 14-16

Therefore speak to them and tell them, “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When any of the Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet, I the LORD will answer them myself in keeping with their great idolatry. (Ezekiel 14:4)

I feel the ring of truth in this message, namely that God deals with us according to that which is enthroned in our hearts. If the Living God is allowed ascendancy within, then God ministers deeply, truly, and effectively to and through our hearts. If, however, we set up idols within our hearts, then God deals with us, according to our idolatry.

I do not feel the ring of truth in the terminology of anger, as applied to God. When Ezekiel speaks for God, as in Ezekiel 16:30, saying, “I am filled with fury against you, declares the Sovereign LORD, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute!” in my opinion he speaks more from his own personally-held anger than from divine wrath. I could be wrong, but the frustration seems to me to originate within the prophet and is projected by the prophet onto God.

In other words God is mature enough to deal with us according to our idolatry--the idols within our hearts--without God’s getting “all bent out of shape” by having to deal with us that way. I am the one who becomes angry, not God, whenever the mercy of God reveals my faithlessness, disobedience, or selfishness, which are just a few of the names for the idols I have enthroned in my heart.

Thank You, God, for loving kindness, mercy, and forgiveness! I can’t go forward without You.