“Therefore, son of man, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In this also your ancestors blasphemed me by being unfaithful to me: When I brought them into the land I had sworn to give them and they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, made offerings that aroused my anger, presented their fragrant incense and poured out their drink offerings. Then I said to them: What is this high place you go to?’ ” (It is called Bamah to this day.) Ezekiel 20:27-29 NIV

In these verses of scripture, God speaks to Ezekiel and tells him to prophesy to the people, reminding them of their wickedness, their detestable acts of idolatry. As I read about the “high places” I found that a lot of times in the Bible, “high places” refer to the hills, mountains or sometimes man-made places where pagan worship took place. The people would go up to sacrifice animals, burn incense and on some occasions, even sacrifice their children to their false gods. They believed the higher up they went, the closer they were to their god. “He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.” (2 Kings 16:4) But all of the sacrifices, prayer and worship were a waste of time because there is no other god like the LORD our God. “When Moab appears at her high place, she only wears herself out; when she goes to her shrine to pray, it is to no avail.” (Isaiah 17:12) God Almighty is the only one worthy of our worship and praise.

Today we may not sacrifice animals or burn incense. We may not go up to high places to bow down to our man-made idols. But we do set up these “high places” in our hearts. We all have those keepsakes that have a special place in our hearts. Sometimes they are expensive things we have acquired and sometimes what makes them so special is the sentimental value. We take pride in those things. We place them in prominent places, up high, so others will see and know these things are important to us. We want to be able to look at these keepsakes and admire them, remembering why they are so important. Well, we do this in our spiritual lives too. We take our material blessings, our gifts and talents or even other people and we put them up on a pedestal. We try to put them in the place that only God deserves to be. Instead of using our resources to help others, to give to the church, we selfishly hoard it for ourselves. Instead of using the spiritual gifts and talents that God has chosen specifically for us to build up and edify the Body of Christ, we allow them to be a source of pride and boastfulness. Instead of spending that quality time alone with God, making that relationship first in our life, we chase after worldly relationships that will eventually fall short and disappoint. We take the good and perfect gifts that our Heavenly Father has given us to use in ways that honor and glorify His Great Name and we allow them to become idols in our hearts.

Now, God is patient, He will convict and give us ample opportunity to tear down these high places and destroy these idols on our own. But God is also holy and the Bible says “He is a jealous and avenging God”. (Nahum 1:2) He will not allow His name to be profaned forever. He will not stand for anything else to be placed above Him. “I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars,” (Leviticus 26:30) “I will take away their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes, their heart’s desire,” (Ezekiel 24:25) There will come a time when God says, “That’s enough,” and He will tear down those idols for us.

There are also times in the Bible that speak of true worship on high places. Abraham went up on a mountain to make his sacrifice to the LORD, (Genesis 22), Moses went up on the mountain to talk to God, (Exodus 19), Joshua set up stones as a reminder to future generations of how God dried up the Red Sea so they could walk over on dry ground. (Joshua 4) So the question we need to ask ourselves today is the same one God asked the Israelites, “What high place are you going to?” We must pray to the LORD, asking Him what area in our lives is dishonoring to Him…what high place do we need to tear down and destroy? And when He answers, be quick to get rid of it and put God in the place only He rightly deserves.

“The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols will totally disappear.” Isaiah 2:17-18