Ezekiel 12:12-16: a reflection

12“‘The prince who is among them will bear his baggage on his shoulder in the dark, and will go out. They will dig through the wall to carry things out that way. He will cover his face, because he will not see the land with his eyes. 13I will also spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, though he will die there. 14I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him to help him, and all his bands. I will draw out the sword after them. 15“‘They will know that I am the LORD when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries. 16But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they come. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

In this passage, God foretells the fate of the prince of Jerusalem, who would try to flee the coming judgment. He would dig through the wall, cover his face, and slip out in the dark, seeking to escape. But God says: I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. His attempt to escape by his own maneuvering would fail; he could not flee God's reckoning by his own schemes, for God's net would catch him. There was no escaping God's dealing by human cunning.

Notice the futility of trying to escape God by our own maneuvering. The prince would use all his cunning to flee, digging through walls, slipping out in the dark; but God would spread his net and catch him. No human scheme could evade God's reckoning; the one who thought to escape by his own maneuvering would be caught in God's snare. We cannot flee God's dealing by our own cunning; his net is spread, and our schemes cannot evade it.

That is worth taking to heart, for we can imagine we can escape God's reckoning by our own maneuvering. We can try to flee the consequences of our sin, to evade God's dealing with us, by our own schemes and cunning, slipping away in the dark, thinking we can escape. But we cannot flee God by our own maneuvering; his net is spread, and no human scheme can finally evade it. Do not imagine you can escape God's reckoning by your own cunning, fleeing the consequences of your sin, evading his dealing with you by clever schemes; the prince who tried was caught in God's net. There is no escaping God by human maneuvering; rather than trying to flee his dealing by your own schemes, turn to him, submit to his dealing, and seek his mercy, for you cannot outrun him. The net is spread; do not scheme to escape God, who cannot be evaded, but turn to him, whose dealing you cannot flee, and find in turning to him the mercy that fleeing could never gain.

Lord, in this passage you foretold the fate of the prince who would try to flee the coming judgment, digging through the wall and slipping out in the dark; but you said, I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. His attempt to escape by his own maneuvering would fail. Show me the futility of trying to escape you by my own cunning. The prince would use all his cunning to flee; but you would catch him. No human scheme could evade your reckoning. That is worth taking to heart, for I can imagine I can escape your reckoning by my own maneuvering. I can try to flee the consequences of my sin, to evade your dealing with me, by my own schemes and cunning, slipping away in the dark, thinking I can escape. But I cannot flee you by my own maneuvering; your net is spread, and no human scheme can finally evade it. Keep me from imagining I can escape your reckoning by my own cunning; the prince who tried was caught in your net. There is no escaping you by human maneuvering; rather than trying to flee your dealing by my own schemes, help me turn to you, submit to your dealing, and seek your mercy, for I cannot outrun you. The net is spread; keep me from scheming to escape you, Lord, and help me turn to you, and find in turning to you the mercy that fleeing could never gain.