NO FINGER POINTING ALLOWED!

 

Thursday, August 27, 2020

 

NO FINGER POINTING ALLOWED!

 

Ezek 22:30-31

30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God.

 

           Have you ever experienced anything quite like this year? 2020 has been such a year of trouble and turmoil that it will likely become synonymous with words like trouble and difficulty.  As I write, there is a hurricane sweeping toward the northeast after making landfall near Camron, Louisiana. We in Texas got a sprinkle or two and so we know God is merciful even so. Riots continue in various places and an unseen virus has the world caged in house arrest.

 

           Some have actually speculated that it is all a judgement from an angry God. Politicians are convinced that it is the fault of the opposing party. I think they both may be right.

 

           The context of our portion of Scripture names the recipients of God’s judgment: princes (v. 25), priests (vv. 26-27), prophets (v. 28), and people (v. 29). All have failed and God is looking for someone to stand in the moral void but He finds none. The word “therefore” in verse 31 is ominous and instructive. A remedy might have eliminated judgment but now it is inevitable. It is too late. God delivers the worst of all condemnations. He gives them “their own way.”

 

Jeremiah, Baruch, and others were still there; but Jeremiah had been forbidden to pray for the people (Jeremiah 11:14), as being doomed to wrath. (from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary.)

 

Ezra 9:8

8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

 

Dear Lord, let us not search for a man to stand in our moral gap. Let us be that man. Let us make a difference even if we must stand alone. AMEN