Readings for today: Ezekiel 9-12
In our current frame of reference, material wealth and physical health and overall prosperity are all signs of God’s blessing on our lives while material poverty, mental and physical health issues, and failure, struggle, and suffering are all signs of God’s judgment or God’s curse upon our lives. But what if our frame of reference shifted to a more biblical worldview? One where seasons of exile and judgment and suffering are not curses but actually part of God’s work to refine and sanctify us? Would we then be willing to go where He leads?
The reality is we often take the Lord for granted. We act as if He’s “trapped” in a relationship with us. As if God is “bound” by His unconditional love for us. We falsely believe our thoughts, attitudes, and actions don’t matter. We falsely believe we can reject holiness as a way of life. We falsely believe God’s primary goal is our personal happiness. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God does love us with an everlasting love. God does love us unconditionally. Nothing can snatch us out of His hand. Yes. Yes. And yes. But make no mistake, God is not “bound” to us or “trapped” in this relationship. He is not co-dependent on us nor does He allow our whims, our feelings, our desires to shape His will for our lives. We sin at our own risk. We run ahead of God at our own peril. We stubbornly refuse to follow Him to our own detriment. And this leads to God’s judgment on our lives, our communities, even our nation.
Thankfully, even in the midst of overwhelming judgment, Ezekiel sounds a note of hope. Presumably, God could have chosen to leave His Temple and head in any direction. However, He went east. East to where the exiles lived. East to Babylon. East to find His wayward children. East to be with them in captivity. East to comfort them in their diaspora. East to provide for them and make them prosper. East to join them so they never would be alone. Friends, God’s glory doesn’t need a Temple or a house made with human hands or a sanctuary covered in gold. The Bible declares that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. Our hearts have become the residence of God Himself. This is why Ezekiel declares, “Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Though I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’ “Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ “When they arrive there, they will remove all its abhorrent acts and detestable practices from it. I will give them integrity of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh, so that they will follow my statutes, keep my ordinances, and practice them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.” (Ezekiel 11:16-20 CSB)
Readings for tomorrow: Ezekiel 13-16