Behind Closed Doors

Ezekiel 8:6

⁶ “Son of man,” he said, “do you see what they are doing? Do you see the detestable sins the people of Israel are committing to drive me from my Temple? But come, and you will see even more detestable sins than these!”

I love The Little Rascals, those bunch of kids back in the ’60s with Alfalfa, Spanky, and the beautiful Darla. These kids get into one pickle after another. Spanky, acting as their leader, bravely heads this bunch of explorers. When they’re into something they know is wrong, you can cut the tension with a knife watching it play out on TV. When they get caught, each one of them has this “holy crap” face we used to copy in jest when we were kids. I still remember the one phrase the parents would tell them during the interrogation: “Guilt is written all over your face!”

Israel was in Babylon, and it was very clear they were being reprogrammed by the Lord. Their reckless lifestyle of turning away from Him had reached its boiling point. It was time for the hard drive of their hearts to be wiped clean and reprogrammed. Ezekiel was the voice of the Lord during these times.

Chapter 8 begins with the leaders of Judah in the home of Ezekiel in Babylon. The Bible tells us that Ezekiel, while everyone was in his house, was caught up into a vision. The Lord takes him to Jerusalem, where He shows Ezekiel what is going on behind closed doors within the temple. It tells us that he sees a man named Jaazaniah son of Shaphan in the center of all the idol worship. Jaazaniah was the son of Shaphan, the same Shaphan who found the scrolls of the Book of the Law in the temple under Josiah after it had been wrecked by Ahab and Jezebel. He was a scribe and a devoted follower of the Law. He even read all the Law to Josiah. Now his son, Jaazaniah, is in the center of the idol worship within the temple walls. What a downfall of devotion to the Lord. Josiah was the last godly king for Israel. Now, the Lord is showing Ezekiel what is going on behind the temple walls where no one can see.

The Lord shows him a secret doorway into the temple. He shows him engravings of all kinds of crawling animals and detestable creatures. (verse 10) He shows him idols worshiped by the people, priests burning incense. He takes Ezekiel to the north gate and shows him some women weeping for the god Tammuz. This was a Babylonian god of springtime, what we might call “Mother Nature” or “Mother Earth” today. These women were worshiping the earth rather than God, who created the earth. He shows him twenty-five men bowing down, worshiping the sun at the entrance to the sanctuary. Everything being done in secret was being revealed to Ezekiel.

The Lord ends with this scathing rebuke: “Is it nothing to the people of Judah that they commit these detestable sins, leading the whole nation into violence, thumbing their noses at me, and provoking my anger?”

Without even knowing it, these leaders of Israel were guiding the nation into violence, and the Lord was seeing it all.

I read this and all I can say is, wow!

For you, you must understand that you cannot hide anything from the Lord. The secret sins no one knows about. The behind-closed-doors actions you think no one sees. The surfing on the internet when no one is around, then deleting your browsing history to hide it, all of these are in plain sight of the Almighty God of the universe. You are leading someone today, even if you don’t realize it.

“Be careful little eyes what you see,” sings from the Casting Crowns song A Slow Fade. The Father up above is looking down with love, and He sees His beloved children and all they do.

If this is you, you have a choice today. You can repent from your sins and turn and seek the Lord in all you do, or you can ignore the warnings and keep sinning. Proverbs 26:11 says, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.” Hopefully, you will decide to repent, turn away from, and not repeat your sinful behavior. If you do, then the Lord will give you His peace that surpasses all understanding: Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Today, it is a choice, and it starts with a heart running after the Lord. Just like the Little Rascals, “guilt is written all over your face,” and the Lord sees it. He wants to cleanse you of that guilt and wipe it all away. Once you experience the loving embrace of our Lord Jesus, you will never turn back to your old life of sin.

Prayer: Father, help us to see the things in our lives that we have erected in secret places. Help us to break them down and fully commit to You, Lord. Help us to turn and not sin, in Jesus’ name. I pray that we run to You, Father, in all things. I know we will mess up from time to time, and I thank You for Your loving arms running after us as we turn to follow You, even in the darkest of places. In Jesus’ name, amen.