Ezekiel 4:13 ESV
And the Lord said, "Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them."
We pride ourselves in our accomplishments. We glory in the "beautiful people" of society. We tell everyone we know if we happen to meet an a-list individual. Even the fact that there is an a-list says something about the phoniness of our society. In all of our "greatness" we neglect to realize that people are one invasion or one natural disaster away from humiliation and scrounging for scraps.
In this chapter Ezekiel is required by God to physically represent a siege that will be laid to Israel and Judah. He draws a picture or map of Jerusalem and places a cooking pan on its edge. Then he is to lie on his side for a certain number of days. This symbolizes the number of years Israel and Judah will be judged. While he is lying there he is only allowed to eat the equivalent of less than half a slice of poor quality bread along with about 2 1/2 glasses of water each day. This is to indicate how bad things will get for Israel.
Originally God instructs him to bake his bread over human excrement. Not wanting to defile himself, he appeals to God. He is then allowed to bake his bread over animal dung rather than human dung. Israel is no different than any other society. They have their poor and they have their social elite. They have their own a-list. What they don't seem to understand is that all that will go away with one invasion. A-listers won't have any more to eat than the poor. Everyone will be scrounging for food. Everyone will become "unclean" in the process.
When disaster falls all the artificial social differences disappear. When God's judgement comes we all stand on level ground. There will not be different standards of judgment for the "beautiful people." We stand or fall before God on the basis of one truth alone. Do we stand before him in Christ? When that time comes there is only one beautiful person. That is Jesus. What we have done with Jesus is the only thing that matters.
Father, forgive me for how often and how easily I fall into the whole social status nonsense. Thank you that I don't have to be somebody special in society in order to be special in your eyes. Even if disaster or invasion comes, may I find my all in you.
By His grace,
Rick Weinert
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