Ezekiel's Denunciations of Judah (Continued) - Ezekiel 15:1-8, 16:1-63, 17:1-24, 18:1-32
A 1,500-year-old cedar in Lebanon...the country Lebanon, not Tennessee. Cedar's have long majestic life in the right environment. Don't we all? Lord make me a cedar on your mountain.
"'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar.'" Ezekiel 17:22-23
Even in the midst of pointing out our fidelity as his children, even while comparing us to the beloved bride that leaves to make love with others, even though forced to use such crude pictures and language to shock us and show us just how awful our sin is in God's eyes. He can't help Himself or can't help but be Himself, who He really is and He paints such a beautiful picture of His forgiveness. Not allowing us to perish completely, He snatches a bit of our highest most branches and finds new soil to plant us and begin with us again. He is love. He is both the storm and the calm in the middle of it.
And it's a cedar He plants. A cedar whose natural properties and sweet aroma wards off insects that would destroy. God is a poet.
Am I focused on the wrong things? Should I point to the destruction rather than the salvation? Lord knows. But may I suggest...I'm here to tell the Good News.
No comments:
Post a Comment