Ezekiel 7:23-27: a reflection

23“‘Make chains, for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. 24Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong to cease. Their holy places will be profaned. 25Destruction comes! They will seek peace, and there will be none. 26Mischief will come on mischief, and rumor will be on rumor. They will seek a vision of the prophet; but the law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. 27The king will mourn, and the prince will be clothed with desolation. The hands of the people of the land will be troubled. I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

In this passage of judgment on a rebellious people, one line stands out as especially sobering: They will seek peace, and there will be none. A people who had forsaken God would, in the day of their trouble, seek peace, long for calm, for security, for rest, but not find it. Having turned from God, the source of true peace, they would seek peace in vain, finding none. The passage pictures a society in crisis, its guidance failing, its leaders in despair, seeking a peace it could not find because it had forsaken the God of peace.

Notice the tragic reality: seeking peace, and finding none. The people longed for peace, as all people do; but having forsaken God, they sought it apart from him, and could not find it. True peace, the passage implies, is found only in God; sought anywhere else, apart from him, it eludes us. A people who had abandoned the source of peace could seek it endlessly and never find it.

That speaks to a common human experience: seeking peace and not finding it. We all long for peace, for calm, for rest in our souls, and we seek it in many things, in success, in security, in possessions, in distraction. But true peace is found only in God; sought apart from him, it eludes us, and we can seek endlessly and find none. If you are seeking peace and not finding it, consider whether you are seeking it apart from God, in things that cannot give it. True peace is found in God, in being reconciled to him through Christ, who is our peace. Do not seek peace where it cannot be found. Seek it in God, the source of true peace, and find in him, through Christ, the peace the world cannot give and cannot take away.

Lord, in this passage of judgment, one line is especially sobering: they will seek peace, and there will be none; a people who had forsaken you sought peace apart from you and could not find it. I too long for peace, for calm, for rest in my soul, and I am tempted to seek it in many things, in success, in security, in possessions, in distraction. But true peace is found only in you; sought apart from you, it eludes me, and I can seek endlessly and find none. When I am seeking peace and not finding it, help me consider whether I am seeking it apart from you, in things that cannot give it. Draw me to seek peace in you, the source of true peace, reconciled to you through Christ, who is my peace. Give me the peace the world cannot give and cannot take away, found in you alone.