PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Ezekiel 25-26
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes.” (Ezekiel 24:16)
The NIV that I read titles this section ‘Ezekiel’s wife dies’.
Why didn’t they write ‘God takes (or kills) Ezekiel’s wife’?
God lets his children write the story, and this is how Ezekiel experiences it.
I’ve heard people use these words for someone who died too: God took them away.
God is not the source of death; the wages of sin is death.
God does not kill anyone; death is the natural result of life in our sin-messed world.
The same is true for all these horrible judgments Ezekiel is speaking of.
God is not torturing or hurting people, but letting them have the wages of their sin.
We don’t know how or why Ezekiel’s wife died, but Ezekiel hears God through it.
His silent mourning becomes a message to the people – you will be silenced too.
We see a similar grieving silence when God does not stop Jesus’s crucifixion.
When the horror of sin comes upon you, you will be speechless, and then you will know.
Greed, lust, hate, violence, cruelty, pride etc. take away the delight of our eyes.
God may allow it, but doesn’t cause it; God uses it to help us see the horror of sin.
PRAYER
Lord, we are collectively responsible for all death, including yours. We kill ourselves – and you – by our sinful, selfish choices. Help us to learn this lesson before things go from bad to worse.
God judges the nations by how they treated Israel/Judah – it is from these nations that they were defiled – they did not stay away and refrain from the religious practices of the former people’s living in the land that they took over. There were contaminated – and so Israel and Judah go into exile and God also punishes the nations around them. There will be a day of judgment – God will avenge. People treated unjustly and persecuted will be avenged by God – the perpetrators will be punished. I need not fear – Lord help me to quench my own anxiety when I see so much conflict – even within my own church!
The Sovereign Lord.
Him we were made to bless.
Him we were made to serve.
Buy we have gone our own way, forsaking the Lord.
Ignoring Him.
That is death for His people – for you and me.
May we see the sign of the times also today of the selfish choices made and turn our hearts to God.
Serve Him.
Worship Him today in all I do and say.
There is no other way.
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey