Ezekiel 16 is a shocking and explicit chapter. Ezekiel uses the analogy of a prostitute to describe Israel's spiritual infidelity and nakedness to describe her fate. Israel thought they were immune to rejection by God because of their status as God's chosen people. They slid into depravity so severe it made Sodom look good in comparison. The innocent young woman God had plucked from the gutter and made his beautiful queen had deliberately become a prostitute, trampling over the grace her husband had shown her.
How did this happen? Israel forgot God's grace. They no longer purposefully remembered all that God had done.
We, too, sometimes need a shocking reminder of our own sinfulness. We need to purposefully remember our status as depraved and helpless sinners, God's incredible mercifulness towards us, and we need to have an overwhelming sense of gratitude and debt that comes with that remembrance.
Being in church does not save us. In fact, exposure to God's teaching only increases our guilt and responsibility if we do not prove faithful.
We are not better than Israel. We are prone to forget. We must be vigilant about remembering, because there but for the grace of God go we.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Ezekiel 18-19; John 12:1-26
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Ezekial 16:49
Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy
This verse stood out to me, it speaks to me. God has given us so much, do we then just think of ourselves? Or do I think of others and act?
This simple verse:
35 Jesus wept.
reminds me that Jesus was human. He experienced loss and sadness and He knows what it feels like. What an awesome thought to consider that the son of God could mourn and cry even when He had the power to overcome death. The loss at that moment was still felt and experienced.
Ezekiel 16 paints the picture of how God grooms and cares for us. It mentions how He develops and provides for us. Everything we have is from Him and we need to remember the days of our youth.
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