Ezekiel 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them
Perhaps I have told you before about how it was to ask my dad a question when I was a boy. The question could be profound or mundane, about engines, politics, or the way the weather worked, and oftentimes this was when we were driving on a trip. Dad would be in the front seat driving, I would be in the back, and I would ask a question. Dad would look around to me where I was in the back seat and say something like, “Well, do you really want to know?” What he meant by that was, “Hey, let’s not waste time if we are just making conversation. If you really want to know, I would love to give you an answer.” My dad is a very good explainer and he enjoys giving answers, but he didn’t want to just pass the time. Now he was not being harsh, but just asking if I really wanted to know.
Sometimes we want answers from God but we don’t really want answers from God. That is what happened in Ezekiel 14 where it says, “Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me [Ezekiel].” They wanted answers and guidance from God. God responded by answering Ezekiel the prophet before whom these leaders sat wanting answers and said, “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?” These men were idol worshippers in their hearts.
Sometimes we talk about sins of the heart and other sins, there is a sense in which every sin is a sin of the heart. It begins there, ends there, and is against God. The heart is where sin is. So, these men were idolaters in their hearts, yet they presumed or pretended to ask question of God. God basically said, “Shall I give them an answer?”
The way to get answers from God is to act on the answers you already have. Psalm 66:18 famously says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” That is harsh, but it is also not the main point of the psalm. The very next verse says, “Verily God hath heard me.” Why in the world would I want to live in unanswered prayer when God longs to answer my prayers? God wants to give me guidance for my life. God wants to answer my questions. So, if I want to speak with authority, I need to listen in submission. If I want answers from God, I need to listen. These people were estranged from God. God says of them, “They are all estranged from me through their idols.” A stranger wouldn’t ask my dad for guidance, but I would. Here were people who belonged to God, but were acting as if they did not belong to God. They were acting as if they were strangers to God.
God says, “I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols.” So, God says that they are going to get the kind of answer they have asked. They have asked in idolatry and they are going to get an answer is the same vein, which is to say, not the answer they need. God has every answer you need, and you will get every answer you heed.
Today, maybe you want answers about the future, about the abstract, about things that are coming down the pike. The best way to get answers for the future, the vague, and the abstract, and even answers regarding things specific, is to act on what you know to be right, right here and right now. I may not always know everything I want to know, but I always know everything I need to know in order to do what I should do right now. If I’ll act on that right now, I will certainly have the answers I need tomorrow.