Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 11 July 2021, by Sarah-Grace, Heather and Captain Michael Ramsay
Israel is in a bit of trouble here. Ezekiel has just put on this big show so that the exiles at the time and the rest of us now might learn from it. Remember that Ezekiel is not in Jerusalem, Judah, or even Israel as he is acting out this prophesy. Ezekiel is a thirty-year-old man who would like nothing more than to be a priest in Jerusalem instead he is sitting by the probably very dirty water near his refugee camp and then spending much of his time lying on his side eating food cooked on animal dung and doing everything else mentioned in this book.
The message Ezekiel seems to be giving the people in the refugee camp with him is this: It seems that the people were comforting themselves in their exile by saying that God would never let anything happen to Jerusalem and that He would never let anything happen to the temple in Jerusalem; some people even believed that God actually lived just there – even though Jerusalem had already been overrun once and they themselves have been deported. They seemed to think that they could do whatever they wanted and because they are God’ chosen people it doesn’t matter. Ezekiel is telling them here that is does matter how we treat God and how we treat each other. They were chosen to be God’s servants taking care of those in need and instead they began to treat God and others as if HE was their servants. Ezekiel says Israel, Judah and Jerusalem were even more selfish than the other nations that God hadn’t chosen to show and tell the world how to serve God and others.
Israel believed that God was on their side no matter what; so it didn’t matter how they acted they would be safe and secure, but the truth is different. The truth is that as long as Israel was on God’s side, they would be safe and secure no matter what. That is VERY different! And we show we are on God’s side by putting our love for God and our love for our neighbour into action.
This is my encouragement to us today. Stay close to God! Life will get tough. You may never wind up on the banks of a dirty river running through a refugee camp… but you might. You may have something that effects you just as roughly or worse too! But here is the important truth, as long as we remain close to God looking to Him and looking after our neighbour, everything will be alright.
Let us pray.
Lord God we thank you that you are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and as long as we remain in you everything will be alright – even when it isn’t. You can see us through any storm. Thank you.
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