| Tripping Ourselves by Tony Beckett and Woodrow Kroll | |
Ezekiel 14-15, James 2
Is there something in your house that you consistently trip over? Or perhaps it is a low-hanging light fixture that you often encounter with your head. You know it is there, but at the moment you are walking by--well, it's like you didn't know it was there! Once again you trip or bang your head. Wouldn't it make sense to move whatever it is on the floor or raise that fixture hanging from the ceiling? Of course it would. Then again, we don't always do the sensible thing, do we? Of far greater significance are the things in our lives that can cause us to stumble spiritually. A group of men, leaders of Israel, came to Ezekiel. God told the prophet that these elders had "set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces" (14:3). It was as if they had deliberately put things in their own path to trip over! The specific obstacle God mentioned was idols, objects of worship valued above the true God. One the one hand this verse reminds us of the wrong of idolatry. On the other, it points to an ongoing problem: setting up in our lives things that cause us to stumble spiritually. In the same way a footstool should be moved, these stumbling blocks need to be taken out of our lives. God even questioned whether He should let them inquire of Him at all. The things we keep in our lives that cause us to stumble spiritually hinder our prayers as well. Do you have a favorite "stumbling block"? Look for something you keep around or have in your heart that causes you to sin. God wants you to remove it. Do that right now. | |
