Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols. Ezekiel 14:4-5 – Let’s set the scene. A group of leaders of Israel approach Ezekiel one day, apparently seeking some words from the Lord. The Lord though reveals to Ezekiel the hidden idolatry happening in the lives of these men and God makes it clear how He was going to speak to such leaders. God was going to make a word known to them, but it was a word of judgement. What’s amazing though is we see the Lord in this chapter elaborate on why that would be the direction He’d take in responding. It was so that the Lord could recapture the heart of His people that had been taken by idols. So many were estranged from the Lord because of their idol worship and their hearts weren’t for the Lord, but God would still speak to them yet it would be an announcement of the judgements He would bring. While none of us enjoy reading about the consequences these people had to face because of their sinfulness, it is a comfort to see God’s purposes behind allowing such intense judgment. It wasn’t for the fun of hurting people, it was to open the eyes of people to their sin and to recapture His people’s hearts. Know when God moves against the sin in our life, it’s not for our harm but for our good. He is seeking to recapture our heart that we’ve allowed sin to have. Let’s then be willing to change our ways before the Lord has to take more drastic measures to bring about that change. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3567
Question To Ponder: Why would God care so much if our hearts were captured by sin?
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