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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The word of the Lord came to me:
“Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of
bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices and say: ‘This
is what the Sovereign Lord says: You city that brings on herself doom by
shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, you have
become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the
idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your
years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and
a laughingstock to all the countries. Those who are near and those who are far
away will mock you, you infamous city, full of turmoil.’”
Ezekiel 22:1-5
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Chapter 22 of the Book of Ezekiel opens, we find the Lord
calling on His prophet to judge the Israelites in Jerusalem and confront them
about their sinful worshiping of pagan gods and idols, acts that included
bloodshed through the sacrifices committed unto those gods and idols, acts that
the Lord labeled “detestable practices.” Look again at these words from the
Lord to Ezekiel:
“Son of man, will you
judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all
her detestable practices and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You
city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles
herself by making idols, you have become guilty because of the blood you have
shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your
days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you
an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. Those
who are near and those who are far away will mock you, you infamous city, full
of turmoil.’” Ezekiel 22:1-5
Did you catch the central theme within these five verses?
It is pretty clear. For the Israelites brought the Lord’s
consequences on themselves.
Indeed, the people of Jerusalem had no one to blame but
themselves for the punishment they were soon to receive, punishment that
included a halt to life as they had known it as their city and nation would be
attacked and left in ruins. And as the people were carried away from their
demolished homeland into seventy years of exile by the Babylonians, the once
revered nation and city, viewed as holy and under God’s favor, would become an “object
of scorn to the nations” and a “laughingstock to all the countries.” The
Israelites would be mocked by those far and near as other lands reveled in
their sudden misfortune.
Fortunately for the people of God, their Lord was a Lord of
mercy and grace because their hardship, although very harsh, would not last
forever. The Lord had promised to free His people from captivity after they had
served their penalty period and as we know through biblical history, the Lord
kept His promise as He does all the promises He makes. The Persians came on the
scene, defeating the Babylonians and taking over their empire before providing
the Israelites an opportunity to return to their homeland to rebuild their
homes, their lives, and their relationship with God. Those who opted to return
did just that and you can read all about that return in the Books of Ezra and
Nehemiah.
But back to our scripture passage and how it applies to our
lives today.
For if we really step back and take a look at our lives,
most of us can see that we have been just like the Old Testament Israelites of
Ezekiel’s day. We have often ended up victims of our own poor choices and the
subsequent sins we committed, experiencing consequences born from those
actions. Sometimes, like we see with the people of God in Judah and Jerusalem,
the penalty for our misplaced judgment can last a long time, maybe even as long
as the seventy years they had to endure. That’s a long time to have to live in
difficulty but trust me, it happens.
This truth leads me to two questions we all need to
consider:
Why bring this on ourselves?
and
Wouldn’t it be much easier to just live fully in obedience
to God?
These questions should be ones we should ask before we make
decisions that lead us down the road of transgression but more often than not,
we get ourselves into tough circumstances and then wish we had better
considered our options after the fact.
Still, there is some good news for those mired in the
negative results of their poor choices. For the same God that made the way for
His people to be free from captivity in Babylon has taken this to a whole new
level and made the way for any of us to be set free from sin forever. In fact,
we won’t only be set free from sin but also sickness, hardship, heartbreak,
pain, grief, or anything else we might find ourselves struggling with in this
life.
There’s just one thing we need to do to experience this
freedom in our lives.
We simply need to place our faith, hope, and trust in Jesus,
God’s only Son who has already paid the price we deserved for our sinfulness.
You see, as Christians we might be corrected by God in life but we will not be
condemned. The scriptures assure us of this (Romans 8:1). Instead, we will be
saved, ushered into a life free from all the difficulties of this world, a life
spent with God and Jesus forever.
Have you made the way to experience this kind of freedom in
your life?
If not, then you are placing yourselves in the crosshairs of
God’s judgment and destruction, leaving me with just one question:
Why bring that on yourself?
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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