From the Message Bible
Ezekiel 20: 13-17 "'But Israel rebelled against me in the desert. They didn't follow my statutes. They despised my laws for living well and obediently in the ways I had set out. And they totally desecrated my holy Sabbaths. I seriously considered unleashing my anger on them right there in the desert. But I thought better of it and acted out of who I was, not by what I felt, so that I might be honored and not blasphemed by the nations who had seen me bring them out. But I did lift my hand in a solemn oath there in the desert and promise them that I would not bring them into the country flowing with milk and honey that I had chosen for them, that jewel among all lands. I canceled my promise because they despised my laws for living obediently, wouldn't follow my statutes, and went ahead and desecrated my holy Sabbaths. They preferred living by their no-god idols. But I didn't go all the way: I didn't wipe them out, didn't finish them off in the desert.
When I read this passage the other day I had to read it again, then again, then again! God actually said, "But, I thought better of it..." HUH??? I understood that God wanted to squash Israel for their rebellion. He wanted to wipe them out, finish them off in the desert! They were bowing down to false Gods and showing some serious disrespect for God who had given them everything, but He thought better of it....WHY? Two reasons that really smacked me in the head.
Firstly, because he "acted out of who I was, not by what I felt". Who HE was, not what HE felt!! Holy Cow! You mean we shouldn't act on our emotions? We should stay in touch with who we are as Christians and stick to our Christian principles? Well, that sounds practically impossible, but in Christ anything is possible right? Right!
Secondly, God also didn't want HIS NAME to be tarnished. He wanted to be honored and not blasphemed by other nations.This is a great piece of advice! It occurred to me that when a brother or a sister in Christ turns their back on me, hurts me or my family and I want to wipe them out or I want to 'unleash my anger on them' just as God wanted to do, I should think better of it. Not for their good, but for my own and all the other people that are watching....and believe me they are watching!!
I should protect my witness by not letting go of angry words or by being mean spirited and in doing so I will be protecting my name as.......Christian! In doing so, the name Christian will be something to uphold and hopefully be respected, not mocked or laughed at.
Finally, God is awesome and this is yet another passage that has helped me deal with my feelings about people who have kicked me to the curb! Praise God that he is so loving with his wisdom and that he has given us the Holy Spirit to help us make it when we don't have the strength to make it on our own.
In Christ,
The Wife of A Pastor
1 comment:
What an excellent post! There is a lot of things here to think about and the biggest being our witness. People are watching and we have all but abandoned this thought in our ‘walk’. We need to listen to Paul when he talks to the Jewish followers in Roman, when he says, “As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." It’s a charge to us all; we all fall into this category. People see our actions and Christ is blasphemed. Again great post!
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