I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I
will bring down on their own heads what they have done (Ezekiel 9:10).
A few days ago we read these words of Jeremiah: I will
discipline you but only with justice
(Jeremiah 46:28). In other words, I’m not letting you off the hook, but
you can rest assured the punishment will fit the crime.
Here Ezekiel affirms the same message. The consequences of
Judah’s behavior are finally coming back to haunt them. God doesn’t need to
devise some totally arbitrary punishment incongruent with their sin. God will
allow their own sinfulness – the weight of their own depravity – to come
crashing down on their heads. They will reap what they have sown.
While bad things do happen to good people, and sometimes
we’re blindsided with the harsh realities of life on an unpredictable planet,
most of us would probably admit most of the bad things that happen to us have a
seed in our own behaviors. If I don’t change the oil in my car, the engine
fails. If I don’t watch my diet, I gain weight. If I don’t do my homework, I
earn a bad grade. It would be silly to blame God for such consequences…
yet we do. Shouldn’t there come a point when we know better?
Ezekiel makes it clear that the people of Judah have no one
to blame but themselves.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
Are you now mad at God for
the consequences of your own behavior? Where does the fault lie? What are you
going to do about it?
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