Ezekiel 23:13-21. God is comparing the two Jewish kingdoms (Israel and Judah) to two wayward sisters. He has allowed Oholah (the northern kingdom of Israel) to fall into the hands of the Assyrians for her harlotry, and here he says her sister, Oholibah, is even worse. Oholibah saw the downfall of her sister but did not learn from it. Instead she doted on the Assyrians and gave herself over to them. She also looked to the Chaldeans - sending messages to them to come to her. As soon as they did and defiled her she turned from them in disgust. She was so open in her harlotry that God turned from her in disgust. She just got worse and worse after that, longing for the way it had been in Egypt in the lewdness of her youth.

Obviously, the sisters are meant to be the two kingdoms and this story explains why God is allowing them to fall. But just like everything in the Bible, we can apply this lesson to ourselves. We all chase after idols; we all have attachments we are clinging to even when it is clear we should be giving them up. COVID has been an opportunity for me to give up attachments, I saw that very early on and I started with the hardest ones. But every time I think I'm done, I've given everything up that I need to give up, God shows me another thing and I have to start again. Even my daily walks and my computer - both good and necessary things - had to be taken from me for a while so I would put them in their proper place.

Before taking our idols from us "by force" God always gives us many chances to let go of them ourselves. Like Oholibah, we see others, even those we love, suffer for their love of their idols and we have a chance to turn away from ours. If we don't take that chance, then with each wayward encounter with our idols we will feel a bit more sadness and emptiness - we will turn from them in disgust. If we turn back to God then all shall be well, but if not, eventually we will fall, just like the northern and southern kingdoms. Everything will come crashing down and then we will turn back to God in our necessity (hopefully).