And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols.
– Ezekiel 6:13
What a picture here in Ezekiel 6 of the destruction that idolatry inevitably brings. When we worship idols that promise satisfaction, that promise our good, they always, always, always lead to our destruction, to our detriment.
Ezekiel 6:13 teaches us to examine what we truly worship.
And as I read this, I just want to encourage all of us to examine any idols in our lives right now. Any things that we are seeking above God, any things that we are desiring more than God, any things that we are trusting instead of God, whether that’s our comforts or material possessions in this world, certainly money is an idol or our plans and our dreams for our lives over God’s plans and God’s dreams for our lives, his desires for our lives.
Maybe it’s the idol of others’ approval or just your own self-image. Maybe it’s the idol of health. Idols can be good things that we desire more than God. In fact, idols are often good things. That’s what makes them idols. We’re prone to put our trust in them, our hope in them, our desire for them above our trust, in our hope and our desire for God. And so I just want to lead us to pray. God, help us to see, open our eyes, each of our eyes, to idols in our lives right now.
Ezekiel 6:13 explains how misplaced desires lead to ruin.
We pray that you would help us to see anything, everything that we are trusting in or hoping in or desiring, wanting more than you, that we’re looking to and longing for more than you. And God, help us to see how empty they are. Help us to see where hoping in these things, wanting, longing for these things, desiring these things, working for these things more than we long for desire, hope, and trust in you.
Help us to see that idols lead to our destruction. They lead to our detriment. This picture in Ezekiel 6:13. God burn it into our minds and our hearts. The slain shall lie among their idols, around their altars. God, help us to see that you alone are worthy of our trust, worthy of our hope, worthy of our desire. God, we pray that we would desire you more than anyone, anything else in this world that we would trust in you alone. We would live for your glory alone. God, we pray that you would shatter. Remove the idols from our lives for your glory. And God for our good. We pray. And God, help us to point people around us today to your glory as the one true God, and to encourage others to turn away from idols, to trust in you alone.
Prayer for the Semendo People
God, we pray for the Semendo people of Indonesia for 263,000 Muslim men, women, children. Lord, we pray that they would hear the good news of Jesus, the one true God who has died on the cross for their sins, risen from the dead, so that they could have eternal life. God, free the peoples, free the Semendo people from the destructive power of idolatry, of false Gods. God, we pray all this according to your Word in Ezekiel 6:13. Help us to live with trust in hope, in longing for you alone as a Lord, as God in our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
