Reading for today:  Ezekiel 9-12
Original Post:  September 5, 2014

In chapter 9 we hear of the man dressed in linen who marks everyone in the city who grieves over the evil being done there.   We know that God promises to send a third into exile, a third to die in battle and a third to starve because of siege and famine,   Therefore, the man in linen must have marked about 1/3 of the people.   They are the ones who went into exile.   I'm trying to make sense of all this, but I'm still missing some pieces....   The people who grieved and lamented are marked and not harmed.   The people who survive(the marked ones) go into exile, and while in exile they repent.   Repent of what?  Although they grieved, they must still have remained guilty in some way.    I don't see God destroying the city He loves when a third of the people still love and serve Him.   So there must be something I don't see yet.

There were several deportations of people from Israel and Judah during about a 10 year period.   It appears that Ezekiel wasn't taken until the second deportation.   That accounts for his speaking to the captives in Babylon, and being in Jerusalem talking to the people there.   The general feeling in Jerusalem amongst those who are left is that the worst is over and now is the time to buy up property and expand your holdings.  

In this reading, lets. focus on the wonderful passage in chapter 11, beginning with verse 18.   God promises to restore the people to their homeland, but not just restore, to improve them.   They will have sensitive hearts to his leading, they will desire to follow Him always, and will flourish because of it.

Our God is a God of restoration.   He punishes, but He restores.   His punishment can be trusted to improve us and make us more like Him.   If we could simply remain obedient, we would never be punished!  Can you imagine?  Oh, that each of us could find within ourselves the faith to remain obedient.   Of course, such faith doesn't come from within us, but from within Him.   Perhaps it is better to say "I wish we were wise enough to ask God to keep us from straying"  that's starting to sound like the Lords Prayer  "lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil".

PR