Hidden In the Heart
Three weeks ago, I was sitting in a hotel room in Flagstaff, AZ quite alone because I no longer have my life’s companion. Snow was falling and quickly ruining my chances of getting on the road early in the morning to make my way home. My Bible reading for the week had brought me to Ezekiel chapter 8 in which God speaks to the prophet to reveal the secret sins of Israel’s leadership. In these ominous words, the Lord says: “Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.” (Ezekiel 8:12). This scripture has been on my mind since my early childhood. I attended a Bible conference in Detroit, Michigan with my father where I heard a preacher use this verse to describe the secret sins of our hearts that no one sees or knows but us. The point God makes is that nothing is hidden from His eyes and we will not escape the punishment for these secret sins.
This is on my mind today as I write this article because I have been thinking about accountability. With my wife by my side, I always felt I had eyes watching me to see if I was the man I claimed to be. Of course, I know God sees me but too often we fool ourselves into thinking that what others think is more important than what God thinks. We know we must stand before God to give an account, but it is not immediate nor do others see or understand the consequences of any secret actions we take. I now feel more keenly aware that I must be especially vigilant not to be secretly someone else. To pretend we are righteous and holy and to put up a front of obedience is serious sin and betrayal against God and His saints.
Ezekiel goes on in this chapter and in the next to speak of the idolatry of these wicked servants. They pretend to worship God in His temple as if they are obedient when God implores Ezekiel to inspect where he will find still greater abominations. There is lip service to God while secretly in the heart they are turned towards their idols and they substitute a pretended obedience to Jehovah God while worshipping in His place the sins that are truly their gods. No amount of obedience to an abomination adds up to righteousness.
While I do not have unqualified faith in human character, I have learned enough about our behavior to know that we are not ignorantly deceptive. These are crimes that fall into the category of commission with malice and intent. If you must hide something, you know enough to know it is wrong. At this point you are past all hope that ignorance is the cause. You know it, we know it, and most certainly God knows it.
We must read Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel with fear and trembling. The peculiar purposeful sins of idolatry that Israel refused to acknowledge and to turn away from caused the burning of the temple and the destruction of the walls of the Holy City. And beware, it caused Jeremiah, the man of God, to be blamed for the message he delivered and to be cast into the deep mire of a dungeon.
One more scripture comes to mind. Hebrews 10:31: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Pastor V. Mark Smith