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?
Prayer and Listening to God
The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article about an NBA team that had commissioned a statue, a life-like mannequin, that looked like a security guard sitting at a doorway. Many people had been fooled by the ruse, in fact, there were several who had tried to engage the “security guard” in conversation. One man did this on a couple of occasions until he finally realized that the very authentic-looking, life-sized security guard was just synthetic; it wasn’t a real person.
Have you ever tried to carry on a one-way conversation where the other person would not listen or speak? It is not possible. In Ezekiel 14 we find a one-way conversation going on between God and His people. God’s people weren’t listening at all. They were praying for God’s guidance but they were not listening to God’s answers.
In Ezekiel 14:3 God says, “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?” He is saying, “Ezekiel, these are the very leaders of Israel, yet they have idolatry established in their hearts. They want to inquire of Me. Should I listen to them? Should I give them an answer?” Of course not! They were estranged from God through their idols. The answer for the people of Israel was to repent and turn themselves from their idols.
The point is that prayer is effective only when in harmony with listening to God. Prayer is never a substitute for listening to God because communication goes both ways. God would not hear the prayers of the elders of Israel because they refused to listen to God!
Prayer is useless when a pretense. Today, it is important to ask God for what you need and for the guidance that He alone can give, but it is just as important to listen when He gives an answer.