September 3 - Ezekiel 16-17: Because They Did Not Repent

Your older sister is Samaria...Your younger sister is Sodom...Haven't you lived just like they did? Haven't you engaged in outrageous obscenities just like they did? In fact, it didn't take you long to catch up and pass them!...your sister Sodom and her daughters never even came close to what you and your daughters have done. (16:46-48)

That caught my attention. God compares His people to Samaria and Sodom?? That seems rather insulting.

The evil kings of Israel (Samaria) had caused God to throw that kingdom into exile more than one hundred years before the final destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. And I remember the story of Sodom in Genesis 19. God rained brimstone and fire on the city because of its incredible wickedness and sexual sin. But here God says Judah is worse than both of these "sisters." How can that be?

God obviously knows a lot more about Sodom than what I know from the Genesis story:

The sin of your sister Sodom was this: She lived with her daughters in the lap of luxury - proud, gluttonous, and lazy. They ignored the oppressed and the poor. They put on airs and lived obscene lives. (16:49-50)

Ezekiel makes no mention of wickedness and sexual sin here, which surprised me. I thought that's why Sodom was destroyed. Instead, God names Sodom's sins as pride, gluttony, laziness, and injustice.

I also remembered that Jesus mentioned Sodom in particular in the book of Matthew:

Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent..."If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you." (Matthew 11:20-24)

God showed me something as I put all of these references together. Sin wasn't necessarily the issue here; it's whether these people chose to repent or not. God can and will forgive sins when we come to Him. God reminded me that the lack of repentance, not the magnitude of the sin, is what doomed Samaria (Israel), Sodom, and finally Judah. His people would not confess their disobedience and turn back to God.

And I know that's also what hinders my fellowship with the Lord - pride and a lack of repentance, my unwillingness to confess my sin and turn from it. The Lord is more than willing to forgive me and show me mercy, but it requires me to humble myself and come to Him on His terms. It requires me to be "properly contrite." (16:61)

If we claim that we are free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins - make a clean breast of them - he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. (1 John 1:8-9) 

Lord, I pray You'll give me the heart to repent over and over and over again. I don't want to become hardened in my sin patterns. Why is it so difficult sometimes for me to admit my sins to You and to others? I pray that You will keep revealing the truth to me and give me Your power to push past the ugly pride that so fills my heart.

And even as I'm convicted about my lack of repentance, I see God's grace in these chapters. As God is hammering Judah with the truth about themselves, His love, mercy, and grace are also on display. He will never fail His people. Despite all of my failings, He will never fail me. He will make everything right in His timing.

"All the same, I'll remember the covenant I made with you when you were young and I'll make a new covenant with you that will last forever...I'll firmly establish my covenant with you and you'll know that I am God. You'll remember your past life and face the shame of it, but when I make atonement for you, make everything right after all you've done, it will leave you speechless." Decree of God, the Master. (16:59-63)

His never-ending love does leave me speechless.