Perhaps someone who is writing a blog titled “inlovewiththeBible” should not admit this. There are books in the Bible I only read if I’m going through the whole Bible. They’re unavoidable then. Ezekiel is that kind of book for me, but the last time I read it, a portion of one verse struck me. I wrote it down and added it to the 3×5 cards of scriptures I try to mediate on regularly. (I think it was the first time I had read the passage in the Christian Standard Bible, and it was that translation that made me really notice the verse. There’s a plug for reading in different translations!) It reads this way, “…I was crushed by their promiscuous hearts that turned away from me and by their eyes that lusted after their idols…” I knew that God was not always pleased by my behavior, but crushed? I had to think on that possibility.
In Psalm 103 we are told our days are like grass. That sounds pretty insignificant. How can we, who are so small in the scope of history or in the vastness of the universe, crush God? Here are some thoughts I had as I pondered this question:
- God’s love is extravagant; if my heart is promiscuous I have rejected His love.
- God desires what is best for me; no idol provides the best.
- Any parent will be brokenhearted when seeing his child make destructive choices in life. Turning from God is choosing death over life. He grieves for me when I do that.
There is also the question of why my heart is promiscuous and lusts after idols. What do I think God lacks that I would turn elsewhere? What do I think is better than what he offers me in Jesus? The answers to these kinds of questions will vary from person to person, but at the heart of idolatry is a belief that God is not enough, or not trustworthy—someone or something has a better offer. A right view of God goes a long way toward living a life that makes God central and avoiding a path toward spiritual adultery.