SCRIPTURE: Ezekiel 9
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” [Ezekiel 9:4]
Today’s passage gives us insight into how bad things had become in Jerusalem [Ezekiel 9:9], and how God still shows mercy to those who hated the corruption.
From God’s point of view, those who are innocent or repentant are marked, they will be preserved through the time of judgment.
But those who support the corruption (murder, rape, incest, child sacrifice, injustice, truly detestable practices), who participate in it or tolerate it or ignore it, they will experience the anger of God.
This is not a bloodthirsty, cruel God unleashing His wanton fury on innocent people.
This is a God Who rises up for the weak, the oppressed, the downtrodden, the victim.
This is a God Who cares, and who is angry with those who don’t.
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. [Matthew 24:12-13]
Jesus speaks of the increase of wickedness, which captures well what God is confronting in Ezekiel 9.
It also reveals that this seems to be a recurring thing, that wickedness increases over time and even God’s people become indifferent or involved in it.
But God does not change, He remains committed to the weak and oppressed, while opposed to the wicked, the cruel, the immoral.
And He looks for those who share His concern, who grieve and lament over the detestable things that are increasing in the world.
Do I lament and grieve over how greed and lust and selfishness and arrogance are ruining God’s world and harming God’s children?
Or is my love for God and His will growing cold?
Am I becoming indifferent to the ways that wickedness is increasing?
Do I close my eyes to child sacrifice today – whether through abortion, child slavery or the child sex trade?
Love for God and for Jesus ought to lead to love for people, especially those that are mistreated or taken advantage of.
God is looking for people who agree with Him that these things are wrong.
God is marking those who grieve and lament these horrible things, and who are prepared to take a stand against them.
Am I marked in this way, is my love hot or cold, am I standing firm with God?
PRAYER:
Lord, it is so easy to slip into this lukewarm indifference, to wear blinders that keep me from focusing on the wickedness going on around me. Open my eyes to see the world as You see it, and to refuse to give in to increase of wickedness.
Walking in the Light. And they will know that we are Christians by our love – that is our mark. When God visits the people of the land His grace and mercy are for those who have His mark, but for all others, they are rewarded in the ways that they lived. The people lived with injustice and they were visited by the Lord on what they had done.
Oh Lord, make me a channel of Your peace. Make me an instrument of Your love. Help me to live each day in Your presence by the gift of Your Spirit so that I am encouraged and directed to live for You in all I do and say. Open my eyes Lord that that I never grow cold to what I see happening around me, but make a difference, in Your name, a child, a person, a living being, a ‘saved soul’ at a time. Give me clean hands and a clean heart so that by Your presence in my Life, others can see You in me – a living letter for Jesus.
All that I am I owe to Thee,
Thy wisdom, Lord, has fashioned me;
I give my Maker thankful praise,
Whose wondrous works my soul amaze.
Ere into being I was brought,
Thine eye did see, and in Thy thought
My life in all its perfect plan
Was ordered ere my days began.
Thy thoughts, O God, how manifold,
More precious unto me than gold!
I muse on their infinity,
Awaking I am still with Thee.
The wicked Thou shalt surely slay,
From me let sinners turn away;
They speak against the Name divine,
I count God’s enemies as mine.
Search me, O God, my heart discern,
Try me, my inmost thought to learn;
And lead me, if in sin I stray,
To choose the everlasting way.