The passage I read was Ezekiel 39:21-29
You can find that passage here:
My summary of the passage is this:
God will be brought
glory not only in his punishment of his children when they turn away from him,
but also in his compassion to bring them back from captivity. (very summarized) ;-)
As I reflect:
I have read about the Israelites in several books for several
years and I am always surprised that no matter how often the Lord blesses them
or builds them up, they always seem to turn away from Him once they are living
life to the max and all. They always
turn away and end up serving other Gods and having sex with neighboring nations
and making a mockery of the nation of God.
Then God sends a prophet to warn them to get straight or He’s going to
have to punish them for His name’s sake.
Then the people refuse to repent and God punishes them (often to the
brink of total annihilation). Then the
few remaining people of Israel eventually repent and God restores them and
quickly rebuilds the population of His children and lifts them back up to a
status that glorifies Him. Then the
cycle starts all over again. I gotta
admit, it can be pretty frustrating to read this sometimes. I think to myself, “how can a nation that has
been so close to God and seen His works first hand among them, continually walk
away and commit adultery with the rest of the world?!” It’s insane to me. But, I find myself doing the same thing in a
shorter time frame and on a smaller scale.
If I am the product of God’s saving grace and I make a choice to sin
(whether conscious or sub), then haven’t I done the same thing the nation of
Israel did? Haven’t I also disobeyed my
Lord even though I walk with Him daily and His presence and power are made very
clearly known to me? The grace that can
be taken from this passage is encouraging to me. That my God is sovereign even to have
compassion on those that have turned completely away from Him, gives me a
continuous hope that He will not fail to bring me back when I falter in my
steps. He won’t give me over to my
mistakes and keep his head turned away forever.
He is faithful and He will complete the work He begun in me. There will be times when I mess up and He
allows accountability. But, I will grow
through those times and He will pick me back up and continue to teach and lead
me. If He can have compassion on a
nation such as Israel after all that they did, and if He can restore them, then
how could I ever think for even a second that He wouldn’t also have compassion
on me and restore me for His glory’s sake.
My response to the Lord:
Lord, I cannot enough thank you for my salvation. That you have the ability to turn someone
over to their sins and allow their enemies to destroy them is obvious to
me. That you are so compassionate as to
forgive them and restore them afterwards is beyond my ability to fully
grasp. I long to be so compassionate Lord. I thank you for not allowing your wrath to
come upon me and I hope I never give you cause to allow it. May I live a life that gives you glory. May I do this from a desire to serve my
King. In Jesus name.
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