Ezekiel 4 -- We Risk So Very Much

God had Ezekiel live out an action sermon to the Jewish exiles in Babylon.  While they didn’t seem to want to listen with their ears, his God-given dramas certainly would catch their visual attention.  In this chapter, he resembled a boy playing soldier in the dirt.  He was to draw a map of Jerusalem on a clay tile, which would be readily recognizable to all who were watching.  He was also to enact the siege and destruction of the city.  Once God’s favor had rested on her and on her inhabitants, but now He was setting His face against Jerusalem.  A wall would stand “between God and the sinful Jewish nation so that He could no longer look on them with approval  and blessing … God was against them and would permit the pagan Babylonians to destroy the city and the temple,” my commentary said.

This theme ran throughout the chapter:  “It’s possible for people to rebel against God such a long time that all God can do is allow them to reap the consequences of their own sins.  The Jews were sinning against a flood of light … the nation had sinned and their sins had caught up with them … God had been longsuffering toward the sinful people of Judah, warning them and chastening them, but they would not remain true to Him.”  We can’t sin and not expect God to work to get us back!

What probably astounded Ezekiel’s audience was that God was bringing judgment upon His own people.  They surely thought the pagans deserved judgment, but not themselves.  “They took their blessings for granted and turned away from the Lord and worshipped idols, so God cursed their blessings.”

Father God, when we ignore You and Your warnings and allow ourselves to sin against You, we risk so very much!  It is wrong for us to presume upon Your mercy and grace, and in this story You give us ample evidence of what can happen when we do.  Help me to understand this completely and to understand that, like the Israelites, I have been given a flood of light, and sinning against it would be grave indeed.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford