Wednesday 10 Aug 2022

August 10: Ezekiel 9:1-7

Key Verse: Ezekiel 9:4
and said to him, ‘Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.’

Devotion:
Often when we read the words of the prophets like Ezekiel we lose sight of the compassion and mercy of God and simply look at the death and destruction which is portrayed in the words instead. But we have to read the words of the Old Testament fully and understand what is written. The New Testament words are often more straight forward and we find them more digestible...

In amongst all the death and destruction we read about, we must remember the words of verse 4 where the holiness of God is revealed showing His compassion and mercy. We must also understand the judgment on the idolaters would probably carried out by angels and not by men; God would not leave the final judgment of His people to be done by other men.

Even amongst this judgement God had appointed someone who would visit each person and see whether they were sorry for the things which were being done by others – this is not by asking them in person but by looking into their hearts for the truth. This would not be able to be done by mere humans unless God was instructing them!

We also need to see the holiness of God as fully encompassing all mankind and not just the people from certain areas. As humans we often pass judgment on people just because they live in a different area or because they go to the right or wrong church! This is not what God does. He looks into the hearts of all people all over the world, in every corner, and makes His decision based on what He sees in our hearts.

Points to Ponder:
Do you think of some churches as being better than others?

Will you trust God to be the judge?