Stunned
It has been a long time since I have read a chapter in the Bible
and been this stunned. Of course, by a
long time I don’t mean years. I have
been stunned like this a few times per year as I have gone through the process
of writing this blog. It’s one of the
reasons I have come to enjoy this time in my life each and every day. I never know what the Lord has planned for
me. Every day He has something. Some days – like today – it is … overwhelming. That’s still under stating how this chapter
has affected me.
Birth in God
The story that God tells is of a baby who is born into a world
that is uncaring. The baby is born, but
not treated with any sort of respect or even acknowledgement. So the Lord came along, saw the baby, and
told it to live. The Lord directed the
baby to a place where it could grow into adolescence and even puberty. The baby prospered, developed, and grew.
Of course, this is an allegory to the call of Abraham. Abraham was the one born into a land that
didn’t care about him. That’s not
entirely true; it’s not like Abraham was abused. But it is fair to say that Abraham was just
one of many people dwelling in Ur of the Chaldeans. He was common, ordinary, and just one of the
crowd being treated like a normal unimportant sort of guy. But God came along and offered Abraham
something else.
Good took Abraham and planted him in Canaan. In Canaan, Abraham grew from a people of 2
(He and Sarah) to a people of dozens (Jacob, his sons, their wives and
families). In the adolescence of the
growth of Abraham’s offspring, they went to Egypt.
Covenant and Marriage
Of course God made a covenant with Abraham. But in Egypt, the Hebrew people grew,
multiplied, and cried out to the Lord.
In Egypt the Lord came, saw their condition, clothed them in His righteousness,
escorted them out, gave them the Law, and bound Himself to them. In the Exodus, God called them His
people. Of course, that first generation
rebelled pretty badly and it was under Joshua and the next generation that the
Promised Land was mostly conquered.
Eventually we get to David and Solomon who were leading the country when
God lavished upon the people His riches, wealth, and prosperity. God has seen this single regular baby in
Abraham grow into a fully mature bride in the Hebrew people – especially
underneath the often flawed leadership of David.
Let the Whoring Begin
Under Solomon, the false gods come in. In the kings who follow Solomon, the slide
becomes an avalanche. God watches as His
bride turns away from Him and instead pursues other gods. God watches as His bride turns away from Him
and looks for joy and satisfaction anywhere else but in Him. God watches as His bride lusts after anything
but Him.
Religiously, there is something to be said for the graphic nature
of this chapter. The Hebrew people did
learn the practice of child sacrifice from the Canaanites, Babylonians,
Assyrians, and a few other surrounding people.
So when God talks about them offering up His own children in verses 20
and 21 we’re not only talking about an allegory to allowing their children to sin. We’re talking also about literal child
sacrifice. We know that during their
fall the Hebrew people literally participated in child sacrifice.
However, we are also talking symbolically. God is upset that parents and community
leaders are teaching their children and communities to pursue things in general
other than God. When we teach our
children to worship something ahead of God, we may not be committing literal
child sacrifice but we are certainly offering them up to another god!
A Unique Version of Whoring
Then God accuses the Hebrew people of something that sounds
utterly ridiculous. God tells Ezekiel
that the Hebrew people aren’t like other prostitutes. Normal prostitutes receive payment for their
services. However, the Hebrew people are
paying others while prostituting themselves out to these false gods, idol
worship, and unholy ways of living. The
Hebrew people were offering prizes for alliances with other nations. They were paying people to teach them their
religious systems. They were taking the
wealth that God had lavished upon them and wasting it away on things that in
the end do not even matter.
Perhaps it is that thought that stopped me the most today. Imagine, if you will, a country that has been
blessed by God with tremendous wealth and resources. Now imagine the people of that country see
their wealth as not only disposable, but disposable on stupid and meaningless
things. Imagine a country that
voluntarily pays for things that in the long run are absolutely meaningless to
life. You see, that’s what God means
here when He tells the Hebrew people that they are the most unique type of
prostitutes that He has ever seen. They
don’t receive payment for their time spent away from God. They are paying people for their time spent
away from God.
So I had to ask myself something today, and I’m going to caution
you – this was an incredibly humbling question.
If you don’t want the challenge, skip to the next section. But of the things in my life that pull me
away from God or distract me from God, for how many of those things do I
actually pay? How can I come to any
other conclusion that I am guilty of the same vile offenses for which the
Hebrew people went into exile? Sure, I
may not be quite as focused on it. But
is a smaller sin worse than a bigger sin?
Does not all sin separate us from God?
Is my smaller sin any less urgent in needing confession and repentance
than someone else’s bigger sin? No, I am
guilty. Those times that I am drawn away
from God are times that are spent doing something that actually costs me family
resources. I toss away part of that
which God has entrusted me to be a good steward for things that actually draw
me away from God.
A New Covenant
Yet, God forgives. God
loves. God embraces repentance. As I have said many times, God knows we
cannot deliver perfection, so God asks us for repentance instead.
God promises a New Covenant.
Thanks be to God that there is a New Covenant because – to quote the
prophet Isaiah – I could not exist under the Old Covenant as I would be a
sinner living in the land of sinners.
Thanks be to God that as this chapter ends, God promises that HE will
atone for all that I have done, because I am not worthy or eligible to make
atonement myself.
It appears that I have some confessing and repenting to do
today. How about you?
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