11.5.9 "When it all Falls Down"

"When it all Falls Down"

Ezekiel 12:1-14:11
Hebrews 7:1-17
Psalm 105:39-45
Proverbs 27:3

Have you ever asked a friend or someone you knew how things are going and their response was "fine" and later discovered their world was falling apart? There's been times when an individual has been hurting so bad, and yet there's no outward sign. Later when everything falls apart, everyone stands around saying "I had no idea". It's easy to say, "If only they had said something, I could have helped them..." That statement may be true, but there's hypocrisy in there as well.

In Ezekiel 13, God is reprimanding Israel for listening to false prophets as they are building the wall. "Tell these evil builders that their wall will fall. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down. And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, 'Why didn't you tell us that it wasn't good enough? Why did you whitewash it and cover up its faults?' Yes, it will surely fall. The Lord God says: I will sweep it away with a storm of indignation and with a great flood of anger and with hailstones of wrath. I will break down your whitewashed wall, and it will fall on you and crush you, and you shall know I am the Lord." Ez. 13:11-14

Think of the tragedy: "Why didn't you tell us that it wasn't good enough? Why did you whitewash it and cover up its faults?"

Each one of us struggle in this area. We live with a certain amount of pride and pretension. We want things to look good. When there are vulnerabilities in our life, we don't want anyone to know. We don't want people to see that we have weakness. That we hurt. That we're addicted. That we're empty. So, we paint the wall.

Our mind justifies this: I'll deal with my problems later... no one will ever know... It's just between me & God anyway.... I can fix this...

Then the rains come. The pressure of the flood reveals the weakness in the wall and there is destruction. We find that it's not only one life that's destroyed. It all those around as well. Then come the questions: "Why didn't you tell us that it wasn't good enough? Why did you whitewash it and cover up it's faults?"

Well, we know why. "I don't want to appear weak." "What will people think of me."

We all know that we are created for "Relationships Devoted to Unity". We can recite that, but we forget that the reason we need to be in unity is so that we can bear one another's burdens. So we can help each other align to the Word and strengthen one another. To be vulnerable with one another. The longer we wait, the worse it gets.

A few years ago we built 2 large retaining walls. As it was going up, I came home for lunch, and the man who was doing the labor noticed the look on my face and said, "what are you seeing?" I said, "that block on the 2nd course looks a bit crooked." He said, yeah, I saw that too, but it will correct itself by the time we get to the top. I went back to work, and came home expecting to find all 8 courses in place. Instead, I found only a couple courses at the bottom and stacks of block everywhere. He had left already & I called to ask him what happened. He said, "you remember that one block? well by the time we got to the top, the whole thing was unstable, so I had to tear it all down."

When the Spirit reveals to us that there is something in our life that is a little bit "crooked", we must allow him to fix it. We must go for help. We must confide in a friend. Too often that isn't what happens. We hope with everything within us that by the time we "get to the top" things will have "worked themselves out."

We may get by with that for a while. I'm glad my friend tore the wall down and started over. Otherwise, when the rains came, it wouldn't have been just stacks of block around, it would have been soil, trees, and destruction all over.

Can you imagine the destruction of lives if help is not sought out? "Daddy, why didn't you tell someone you had a problem with the internet?" "Honey, why didn't you tell us we were out of money... you didn't have to steal."

We've seen time and again ministries that have failed because of the hidden sin of a leader. What a tragedy. Regardless of the specifics of the circumstance, one thing we know is that there was a problem down deep that was not taken care of. God loves his people enough to bring that which is in the darkness into the light. He wants us to be pure before him.

Make no mistake about it. It's not easy to tear the wall down one block at a time to take care of it, but it sure beats the alternative.

I'm not saying we need to broadcast all of our secret sins and struggles and put them on a sign in our yard, but we need to be in REAL relationships with people who have our best interest in mind and care enough to tell us the truth and help us to be aligned with scripture. We need to love one another that much.

We need to build the wall God wants. This is the key to living a Dynamic Lifestyle of Worship with a heart that is open and pure before him. This wall will not fall no matter what storm may come.



Through the Power of the Spirit,
Live the DREAM!

P Greg


Dynamic Lifestyle of Worship
Relationships Devoted to Unity
Empowered Through Biblical Training
Active Ministry Involvement
Mission to Reach our World for Christ