Idolatry: What has taken the place of the Lord in our lives?

Ezekiel 8:3-18

"3 ... In these visions from God, the Spirit carried me between heaven and earth. He took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance to the north gate of the inner courtyard of the temple. That was where an idol that stirs up God’s anger was located. ⁴ There I saw the glory of Israel’s God as I did in the vision that I saw in the valley.

⁵ God said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked toward the north, and there in the entrance to the north gate beside the altar, I saw the idol that stirs up God’s anger.

⁶ He asked me, “Son of man, do you see what the people of Israel are doing? The people of Israel are doing very disgusting things here, things that will force me to go far away from my holy place. But you will see even more disgusting things.” ...

⁹ He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked, disgusting things that the people of Israel are doing here.” ¹⁰ So I went in and looked. I saw that the walls were covered with drawings of every kind of crawling creature, every kind of disgusting animal, and all the idols in the nation of Israel. ¹¹ In front of these drawings stood 70 of Israel’s leaders. Jaazaniah, son of Shaphan, was standing with the leaders. Each of them was holding an incense burner in his hand, and a cloud of incense went up.

¹²God asked me, “Son of man, do you see what the leaders of the nation of Israel are doing in secret? Each of them is in the room where his god is, and each one of them is thinking, ‘ The Lord has abandoned this land.’¹³ Then he said to me, “You will see even more disgusting things that they are doing.”

¹⁴ He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s temple. Women were sitting there and crying for the god Tammuz. ¹⁵ He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this? You will see even more disgusting things than these.”

¹⁶ Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’s temple. There at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the entrance and the altar, were about 25 men who had their backs turned to the Lord’s temple. They were facing east and worshiping the rising sun. ¹⁷ He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this? Isn’t it bad enough that the people of Judah have done these disgusting things that you have seen here? Yet, they also fill the land with violence and continue to provoke me even more. Look how they insult me in the worst possible way. ¹⁸ So I will take action because I’m angry, and I won’t have compassion for them or feel sorry for them. Even if they shout in my ears, I won’t listen to them.”

Disgusting! What we have here is idolatry - false gods taking the place of the true God, dead idols taking the place of the living God. Is this just ancient history? What about today? What has taken the place of the Lord in our lives? Idolatry was a big problem - "70 of Israel's leaders" (Ezekiel 8:11)! These men were "the leaders of the nation of Israel" (Ezekiel 8:12). We may say, "They should have known better." They did know better! Why were they were worshipping false gods "in secret" (Ezekiel 8:12)? - They knew that they were doing wrong. They were trying to hide from the Lord. They were saying to themselves - "The Lord doesn’t see me" (Ezekiel 8:12). They were telling themselves, "The Lord has abandoned this land" (Ezekiel 8:12). They were thinking, "Now, we can do whatever we like." The situation was going from bad to worse - "25 men ... had the backs turned to the Lord's temple. They were facing east and worshipping the rising sun" (Ezekiel 8:16). Going from bad to worse - Is this just the story of ancient Israel? No! It's more than that. It's the story of today's world. Are the terrifying words of Ezekiel 8:17-18 only for the idolaters of Ezekiel's day? We would be very foolish if we imagined that we could do whatever we like and still expect God to look on us with favour. This is a solemn word of judgment. We must, however, ask, "Does God have anything else to say to us?"  In Ezekiel 8:3, we read about the place "where an idol that stirs up God’s anger was located." In Ezekiel 8:4, we read something else - "There I saw the glory of Israel’s God as I did in the vision that I saw in the valley." In our day, surrounded by so much that brings dishonour to the Name of the Lord, may we, like Ezekiel, catch a glimpse of the glory of God. May God help us to keep looking to Him while many others are turning their backs on Him. May He reveal His glory to us. May we be "changed into His image with ever-increasing glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18).