Ezekiel 17 & 18 -- God IS Fair

I love Chapter 18, because it is titled “God Is Fair”.  For several years, before I read my Bible regularly, I really wondered about that, and in fact I couldn’t find anything that really said He was fair until I found this chapter years ago.

The people of Israel had a saying, stated in verse 2, which blamed their sins on the failures of their ancestors.  It was based on Exodus 20:5 where God had directed that the consequences of sin could be passed down to several generations.  They had taken it to mean that they could blame their sinfulness on their ancestors.  But God here clearly states that individuals are held responsible for their own sins.  Yes, they might still suffer consequences from the sins of others, but never the guilt of those sins.

God clearly says that obedience is what He desires from us, and that includes belief in what His Son did on the cross for us.  He wants us to change our hearts and lives when we do sin, stopping our habitual sins, and He promises us a new heart and a new way of thinking.  He also says He will forget our sins when we come to Him in repentance and ask forgiveness.

I’ll bet the people were by now realizing that by claiming God was unfair had really slipped up.  They’d been able (in their own minds) to blame their sin on their ancestors, and now God had disavowed them of that notion.  Now they didn’t like having to be personally responsible for their own conduct.  It highlights what God says elsewhere that the human heart is deceitful above all else!

Father, I have no one to blame for my own sin except myself.  You offer ways of escape and limits on temptation.  If I choose not to utilize them and to sin anyway, I am to blame.  As You say here, You are fair.  It’s always been me trying to cheat the system, as have all the people on earth since You created us.  I’m sorry.  Help me not to try to blame my sins on anyone else.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford