The Judgment, The Slaughter, The Exiled.

Here are some verses from Ezekiel that I want to press on and dig deeper into. I feel like these verses will stretch our knowledge of who God is and question some “truths” that we were raised by. Look them up for yourself and form your own opinion. I am simply explaining my opinion and what I felt like God is teaching me about them. I might abrubtly end on some topics because, I simply do not know how to end sometimes. These are just my thoughts scattered, but not organized on a nice and neat blog.

================================================================

Quick history lesson on Ezekiel :

The book of Ezekiel is his story of how God used him to bring judgment on Jerusalem, Judah and all of Israel. It is a narrative of God speaking to Ezekiel, telling him what to say to the people of this nation, calling them out for their sins, for how they live and how they don’t care about the lives of others or a life with God. How God called the people of Israel, of Jerusalem His own at one point, but now they’ve turned his back on Him. God is now using Ezekiel to be a messenger and a watchmen for all of Israel.

Ezekiel 8:17

[In chapter 8, God is sharing with Ezekiel what the leaders of Israel are doing in the Lords Temple. The leaders of Israel are worshiping other gods beside God Himself. Therefore, this particular sin is called a detestable sin.]

“Have you seen this, son of man?” he asked. “Is it nothing to the people of Judah that they commit these detestable sins, leading the whole nation into violence, thumbing their noses at me, and provoking my anger?”

What really hit me about this specific verse is this key fragment

“…that they commit these detestable sins, leading the whole nation into violence…”

This specific verse really creates tension with faith.
Will God allow a whole nation be led into violence and destruction if the leaders, or even people, decide to commit “detestable sins?” What about the innocent? The ones who did not know what their leaders were doing in secret?

In this chapter, if you look up yourself, you will see that it describes the leaders of Israel meeting in secret, in the night, in “a room where they cannot be seen” to create such destruction on their nation.

What first popped into my mind when I read this verse was a family (who I will not mention their name) who is known nation wide as “Christians who hate homosexuals.” I was watching a tv interview with the wife of the family and the interviewer asked her “Do you think God really hates America because we allow homosexuality and war?” Her response “Yes, God will bring judgment on all of us for allowing such “detestable sins” to enter into our nation and lives.”

Does this verse support her opinion?
Yes…
Do I like how this verse supports her opinion?
No…
Why do I not want to support her?
….

What are detestable sins?
In Ezekiel it constantly talks about : serving other idols/gods (Chapter 8)
not caring about the poor and needy (16:49)
prostituting yourself to others (16:30-34)

Another verse to chew on :

Ezekiel 12:19

Tell the people, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says concerning those living in Israel and Jerusalem : They will eat their food with trembling and sip their water in despair, for their land will be stripped bare because of their violence.”

Wow, not only will detestable sins bring violence, but when we even create violence ourselves, the land will be stripped bare in despair and trembling.

One more verse…

Ezekiel 9:9-10

Then he said to me, “The sins of the people of Israel and Judah are very, very great. The entire land is full of murder, the city is filled with injustice. They are saying, “The Lord doesn’t see it! The Lord has abandoned the land!” So I will not spare them or have any pity on them. I will fully repay them for all they have done.”

2 actions : injustice & murder

I don’t need to say anymore than this. I hope you get the picture of what I’m trying to convey here.

If we allow these to happen even in our own city, what is there to come for us in the future? Is this really true, if we allow what these verses to talk about to happen in our lives, what will come of us?

Honestly, I do not know how to end this topic. But for me, this is something to chew on and think about. It helps me learn another side/view of God. Even though this breaks so many boxes in my head on “who God is” it really helps me to expand and see more of the bigger picture of how we truly have to live responsibly with our lives. I don’t want to be one of those Christians that goes on the street and yells “REPENT OR GO TO HELL!” I’m not trying to convict you in any way if you are reading this, it is just something that has caught my attention and I needed to blog to feel more “structured” in my head.

===============================================================

I constantly run into intense, thought provoking and also faith bending verses like these. How we are never taught these subjects; but we are always taught “Jesus loves you.”

Thankfully, I am super happy that I am learning more than just God is love. It’s obvious that He is, but how is He love in these situations. And this tension really brings questions, mystery and somehow joy in my life. Not that I like seeing towns or people being utterly destroyed, but how God is so much bigger than we can think and it’ll take my whole life to even catch a glimpse of who He really is.

Ezekiel

I haven’t blogged in awhile, sorry for that.

The past few days or week I have been having ups and downs with my daily walk. Still trying to adjust to this extreme difference in environment. From being in a “Christian bubble” to now living in the “real world.” It is still difficult, but it’s about me living the way God wants me to, and not God living the way I want Him to. I transform to Him, He doesn’t transform to me. It’s such a profound concept and I think about it daily, but it’s so hard to live it sometimes; you transform to Him. What a sacrifice it truly is to live a life of sacrifice - to live a life of God!

Anyways, today as I was praying, I really felt like God asked me to re-read the book of Ezekiel. The past months I’ve drawn much inspiration from this man and his life and story. God truly tested, used and challenged Ezekiel to do radical things in this world and to many nations. He had to live a life full of sacrifice, even to the point of seeing his wife die in order to see Gods will be done over Jerusalem. Quite intense. Now, I feel like I need to read it again to dig deeper into the character of Ezekiel and see what God will reveal more.

Just an update on what my blogs will be about now, transitioning from Psalms/Proverbs to now Ezekiel.

My art show is this Friday, please be praying for everything to come together the way God needs it to be. For people to truly be challenged, touched and influenced not by me, but by the Light that is in me. It is a day before Halloween and guessing what other art shows will be themed, this will be a lot different and more unusual than the expected.

Love you all and will let you know what’s goin on soon in reading and in living.