The depths of God’s holy rage against his
sinful, impenitent people, are terrifying.
The suffering he inflicted on them is unimaginable. And once he was spent, he was once more
willing to forgive should they humble themselves. “The Lord will judge his people. It
is a terrible thing to fall into the
hands of the Almighty God.” (Heb. 10:31)
'The book of Ezekiel details all of the suffering God planned to bring about to his people for their disobedience and betrayal...They had fallen so far into idolatry that they were even burning their babies alive as a sacrifice to Molech -- a pagan god. God had had enough...he now planned to destroy them...to bring them to captivity and to those who did not go into captivity he brought famine so severe that his people were cooking and eating their babies.
'The book of Ezekiel details all of the suffering God planned to bring about to his people for their disobedience and betrayal...They had fallen so far into idolatry that they were even burning their babies alive as a sacrifice to Molech -- a pagan god. God had had enough...he now planned to destroy them...to bring them to captivity and to those who did not go into captivity he brought famine so severe that his people were cooking and eating their babies.
I never ever want to anger him…not even
slightly….and I know that the blood of his beloved Son protects me…he absorbed
God’s rage by his suffering at Calvary.
I’m so very grateful to Jesus for his death which made it possible for
me to be God’s beloved—secure from his wrath. But it is not only God’s wrath
that bids me obey. I never want to be
responsible for God’s pain.
God has been bringing to mind, like flotsam in a pond floating to the surface, memories of past sin. There are sins committed in my childhood which I have dealt with…but more and more are rising. I deserve God’s wrath. I deserve the punishments he poured on Israel. I quake with horror at the thoughts of past dishonesty and other things too heinous to mention here. I have prayed and asked God to bring to mind things that I need to seek forgiveness for. And he is doing that…but only one or two memories of unholy behavior and words at a time. I am grateful not to see the full story of my sins…I would be swept away by the sorrow and regret.
God has been bringing to mind, like flotsam in a pond floating to the surface, memories of past sin. There are sins committed in my childhood which I have dealt with…but more and more are rising. I deserve God’s wrath. I deserve the punishments he poured on Israel. I quake with horror at the thoughts of past dishonesty and other things too heinous to mention here. I have prayed and asked God to bring to mind things that I need to seek forgiveness for. And he is doing that…but only one or two memories of unholy behavior and words at a time. I am grateful not to see the full story of my sins…I would be swept away by the sorrow and regret.
I am so thankful for God’s willingness to
restore me to himself. It was a
horrible price that he paid in order to call me daughter….or his bride. It was not only God’s anger that is evident
in Ezekiel…but his heartbroken sadness at the betrayal of his children …this is
hard for me to read. I know that God’s
heart broke when I spurned him and tried to rescue myself from mental illness.
The anger I felt toward him –wrongfully blaming him for the disaster that was
my life is a horrible thought to me now.
I rejected my only Hope. I turned
my back on his Peace. I was entirely
cold to his Love. I lost every ounce of
my Faith…. all but one ounce. God
would not put out the smoking wick –he fanned it into flame over a period of
years…until I was able and ready to be his child once more… I never stopped
being his child -- once God’s; always God’s—I just did not acknowledge him as
FATHER. The Lover of my soul…
I’m feeling grateful today for a God who has
every right and the complete power to squash me like a bug---but who instead
clothes me in white and waits to welcome me in the home he has prepared for me.
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