Scripture Daily

Context No. 3547 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 6:8-14: in context

8“‘“Yet I will leave a remnant, in that you will have some that escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. 9Those of you that escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols. Then they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 10They will know that I am the LORD. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”’ 11“The Lord GOD says: ‘Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, “Alas!”, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they will fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. 12He who is far off will die of the pestilence. He who is near will fall by the sword. He who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus I will accomplish my wrath on them. 13You will know that I am the LORD when their slain men are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every thick oak—the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols. 14I will stretch out my hand on them and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

Even in a message of severe judgment, God speaks of mercy: I will leave a remnant, some who escape the sword, scattered among the nations. And of these survivors he says something remarkable: they will remember me among the nations, and they will loathe themselves for the evils they have committed with their idols.

The judgment was meant, in the end, to bring them back, to make them remember God and turn from the idols that had broken his heart, for God says he was broken by their unfaithful hearts. There is a hard mercy in this. Sometimes God allows the painful consequences of our sin precisely so that we will come to ourselves, remember him, and turn back with genuine sorrow over what we have done. The self-loathing described here is not despair but the honest recognition of sin that goes before true repentance. God's deepest aim, even in judgment, is not to destroy but to gain a people who remember him and turn back to him.

When the consequences of my sin bring me low, do I let them lead me back to God with honest sorrow over my sin, remembering him and turning from what grieves him?

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