At Our Age? Really?

“Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.” (Eze 8:12 AV)

That which caught my attention this morning is the generation that is at fault here.  It isn’t the younger generation that is hiding the basement of the temple worshipping all sorts of false gods.  It isn’t the young ladies who are out in the courtyard weeping for a pagan god.  It isn’t the up and coming generation that is following after wickedness.  It is the ancient.  The oldest of society.  The more mature and experienced.  Those who have claimed to have walked with God all their lives are not what they seem to be.  Those who have suffered through the hard lessons of disobedience are the ones who have not repented and changed.  It just goes to show that age and maturity doesn’t always result in spiritual growth.  Just because someone has celebrated many birthdays does not necessarily mean they are right with God.  This is a sobering thought.

Although we could make application when considering the origins of the modern contemporary movement, we will forego the obvious observation of a past generation returning to their pop culture roots, bringing it into the church.  Which has now resulted in a new generation using God’s house as a den of worldly entertainment.  Rather, we will contemplate the danger of maturity.  That danger is getting to a point where we cease to spiritual mature.  Something happens when we age.  We get to a point where we think there isn’t much left to learn.  Or, we get tired of the battle and just give up.  We struggle through study and discipline, only to go to the LORD, asking forgiveness for the same over and again.  Rather than continue the challenge, we succumb to temptation thinking things will never improve.  Why battle something that cannot be defeated until the time of our death?  What is worse, like the ancients mentioned above, we hide while indulging, thinking God will not see.  We see the space for repentance given as an indication that God isn’t going to do anything about our disobedience.  We misread the calm before the storm as though the storm is never going to come.

I guess as one who is approaching the ancient of age, I am embarrassed at the revelation this behavior is possible.  I would expect it out of a less disciplined generation.  But not of myself or others of my generation.  We know better.  We have seen much.  We have experienced the highs and lows of walking with God.  Surely, we are not susceptible to such lapses of discipline.  According to the passage above, we are apparently not immune to the fall of the flesh.  This should be embarrassing.  This should be a shame.  Even if we are not there yet, the possibility of being there should shame us into not going there to begin with.  May God have mercy on us and may the ministry of the Holy Spirit prohibit us from finding ourselves in the basement of life, practicing wickedness, thinking neither God nor man sees us.