SCRIPTURE: Ezekiel 16
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done. [Ezekiel 16:49-51]
This passage begins with a story of compassion, how God finds an abandoned baby girl and raises her to be a beautiful princess, then makes her His bride.
But the story goes bad when this princess bride sells herself to many lovers, and becomes a rejected, used and abused prostitute.
Compared to her sisters (Samaria and Sodom) who were already bad enough, she became worse than them all.
This is figurative language to describe a nation gone bad, horribly bad.
But what makes it worse is that the nation that is the worst is the one that what blessed the most, that should have known better.

But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” [Matthew 11:22-24]
Jesus also uses Sodom as an example of how bad God’s nation had become, saying that even Sodom would have repented sooner, and it will be better on the day of judgment for Sodom than for Israel.
That’s how bad things had gotten.
But we need to remember that through all the warning and judgment, this is still a Love Story, and at the end God will atone for His wayward bride and restore her and her sisters.

The bible often uses the analogy of marriage to describe the relationship between God and His people.
And the breakdown of that relationship is often described as adultery or prostitution.
God is the faithful partner who showers unbelievable gifts of love on this weak, abandoned girl, and transforms her into a beautiful princess, a much-loved bride.
We are the bride, the partner that was raised to our high standing by His love; we are the adulterous bride, who wanders from God and fellowship with Him.
We do this by loving self, pleasure, beauty, riches more than God and others.
We ignore God, and become arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; we do not help the poor and needy, we are haughty and do detestable things before Him.
If this seems harsh, we can see it easily enough if we look at the history of the church, and see things that would even make Sodom blush.
And if we are honest and willing, we can even see the wandering tendency in our own heart, the ‘overfed’ and ‘unconcerned’ attitude that we have.

But through it all, it is still a Love Story.
God still loves His bride, and though He may allow her to experience the misery of her waywardness, He is still working to restore and renew us.
God is not out to get us, He is out to rescue us.
How is He doing this with you?
How is God tugging at your wandering heart?

PRAYER:
Lord, You have done so much for me, and I do not love You enough in return. Forgive me for enjoying the gifts, but ignoring the Giver!