Ezekiel 14:4 · World English Bible
Therefore speak to them, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;
A person who refuses to put down an idol has already decided what answer God is allowed to give. What a person will not release writes the question they ask, and the question tells the mind where to look, so the answer arrives wearing the shape of the wanting and gets called guidance.
From the Self-Help reading below.
The same verse, read by one tradition.
SELF-HELP
A person who refuses to put down an idol has already decided what answer God is allowed to give.
What a person will not release writes the question they ask, and the question tells the mind where to look, so the answer arrives wearing the shape of the wanting and gets called guidance. A primary question asked for years builds a life around its own answer; ask how to keep the idol and be blessed anyway, and every counsel gets filtered until it agrees.
God answering according to the multitude of the idols is exactness, not cruelty: the heart that came asking sets the terms of the reply. Change what the question protects and the same God gives a different answer, because the mind is finally sent looking somewhere else. The cost of leaving it is years of sincere seeking that deepen the very thing a person came to be freed from.
Self-Help lens
What answer have I quietly ruled out before the question even left my mouth?
A cup already full of yesterday's tea cannot receive what is being poured. The teacher pours anyway, and the student later blames the tea.
We come to the oracle wanting it to approve the thing we already love, and then call its approval wisdom. Examine the wanting before you examine the answer.
The seeker who keeps one secret attachment hidden in his coat searches the whole world and finds only the shape of that attachment everywhere he looks.
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Self-Help