Ezekiel 21:6-12: a reflection

God calls the prophet to groan and sigh with a broken heart before the people, over the coming judgment, so that his very grief becomes a sign of how grievous the reality is. Sigh, you son of man, God says; you shall sigh before their eyes with a broken heart and with bitterness. The prophet is not to announce the coming judgment coldly or indifferently, but with a broken heart, groaning and grieving; his grief itself testifies to the seriousness of what is coming. God's own heart grieves over the judgment his people's sin has brought on, and the prophet is to share that grief. This shows the fittingness of grieving over sin and its consequences, rather than being indifferent. God calls the prophet to grieve over coming judgment. Sin and its consequences are to be grieved, not met with indifference. A broken heart over sin's consequences is fitting. We do well to grieve over sin, not be indifferent to it.

Notice that God calls the prophet not merely to announce judgment, but to grieve over it with a broken heart. The coming judgment was grievous, the fruit of the people's sin; and God did not want it announced coldly, as mere information, but with sighing, a broken heart, bitterness of grief. The prophet's grief was itself to be a sign, testifying to how serious and grievous the reality was. This reflects something of God's own heart, which grieves over the judgment sin brings, and does not delight in it. And it teaches us about the right response to sin and its consequences. We can be indifferent to sin, our own or others', treating it lightly, or coldly, without grief. But sin and its consequences are grievous things, and the fitting response is grief, a broken heart, not indifference. To grieve over sin, over the harm and judgment it brings, whether in ourselves, in others, or in the world, is to share something of God's own heart, which grieves over sin. We do well not to be indifferent to sin and its consequences, but to grieve over them with a broken heart. Grieving over sin and its consequences shares God's own heart. Do not be indifferent to sin; grieve over it. A broken heart over sin is more fitting than cold indifference. Sin and its harm are grievous; grief is the fitting response.

That is worth taking to heart, for grief over sin and its consequences, rather than indifference, is fitting and shares God's own heart, as God called the prophet to sigh with a broken heart over the coming judgment. We can be indifferent to sin, our own or others', treating it lightly and without grief; but God did not want the prophet to announce judgment coldly, but with a broken heart, for sin and its consequences are grievous. To grieve over sin shares God's heart. Do not meet sin and its harm with cold indifference; grieve over them with a broken heart, as God called the prophet to do. Grieve over sin and its consequences with a broken heart rather than meeting them with cold indifference, as God called the prophet to sigh before the people with a broken heart and bitterness over the coming judgment, so that his grief itself testified to how grievous the reality was; for God did not want the judgment announced coldly, as mere information, but with grief, since sin and its consequences are grievous things and reflect a reality God himself grieves over, not delighting in the judgment sin brings, and we can be indifferent to sin, our own or others', treating it lightly and without grief, but the fitting response to sin and the harm and judgment it brings, whether in ourselves, in others, or in the world, is grief, a broken heart, which shares something of God's own heart, so that we do well not to be indifferent to sin but to grieve over it.