I can't count the times I have read about not worshiping idols. Worship God alone. He is the only God. Well, duh, of course I won't worship idols and I will only worship my God and savior...and in that very same breath I am planning my child's birthday party, making my schedule for the week and then sitting down to watch my favorite show while enjoying my nighttime indulgence of mint and chocolate chip ice cream. In the last few books I have read in my bible, I have been bombarded with talk of worshiping idols. I have quite literally been hit over the head with it. God leading Jeremiah and in this case Ezekiel to get these blind people to stop worshiping idols. Money, stature, power...I don't worship those things...or do I?
I wanted to talk about what a noble and faithful man he was or how difficult it must have been to stand in the face of these people and tell them God thinks their are being idiots...forgive my bluntness, but you probably got the same idea from reading it, no? But what I am going to write has all to do with idols and priorities. What is that important to me that my schedule does not allow for time in my bible? Time in prayer? Why am I still blogging about reading through the bible a year later when my initial goal was 3 months? I can tell you. Idols. My kids, my husband, my schedule, my exhaustion, my desire for free time. These things take my precious time with God, whom I desire to lead my life, and have left me still desiring. Still searching. How, when I want Him to be so deeply, is he not my priority? How can I sit down at the end of the night and say, "Not tonight. I just need some down time?" God made my heart sensitive and soft to other's needs, so why am I ignoring that? He is searching for the Jeremiah's and the Ezekiel's of the world to bridge the gap between us and Him. God desired for us to live a balanced life so we could have time for Him, not create time for Him. In Ezekiel, God makes plain that he wants the best of our fruits. The choice time, not the leftover. It is so easy to gloss over my idols. Even in prayer. My prayers reflect my chaotic life. It is worth noting that in all of my chaos, that last place I should be in is judgement of anything or anybody. My path is far from perfect. My days are imperfect. My hours are imperfect. So who am I but an imperfect being saved by grace and attempting to show God how I love Him and will, maybe someday, be better. Not perfect. Just better. I have wanted to see vengeance. To put that into words feels despicable. But honest. I am wrong. It may be forced, but I am trying to learn the act of replacing the desire for vengeance with prayer. I can only hope one day this will be a natural feeling and not oe born out of obedience. He will take care of comforting me and making it all better. Not my judgement.
I suppose the beauty of that is I feel that way because I have His spirit in me. It came from somewhere and MY faith...MY!!!! faith tells me it came from HIM!! What a relief to see God's work come to fruition. The people that God worked through...the profits...how difficult, yet they saw the reward of their obedience because they kept His spirit. God asked Ezekiel if the dry bones could live. Can they? Mine will. He said so.
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