Ezekiel 24:13-14 ESV
On account of your unclean lewdness, because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed from your uncleanness, you shall not be cleansed anymore till I have satisfied my fury upon you. I am the Lord. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord God."
The judgment of God is not about an angry, vengeful God lashing out at anyone in sight. It is about a patient, gracious, just God who has given people time to repent and they have insisted on their own way. We tend to think of ourselves as good. When bad things happen we blame it on God. We somehow feel that by allowing bad things to happen to us God's character is questionable. But the truth is that there is no one righteous.
There is no one good. There is no one that deserves better treatment from God than they have received. Bad things happen because people are bad. Bad things happen because "good" people fail to do anything about it. Bad things happen because we took God's world and turned it upside down. Everything is out of order.
I'm not saying that we can directly trace the sin of an individual or a city to the destruction of a particular hurricane or a tornado. I am saying that those things are destructive because mankind messed up God's world. I am saying that God's judgment, when it comes, is always deserved. I am saying that we cannot point to God and say that he is unjust.
God says to us, as he said to Israel, "I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed from your uncleanness." She was not cleansed because she did not allow God to cleanse her. God is not unjust. We are unclean. But that leaves us with one question: Will we allow God to cleanse us?
We are like children insisting that we cleanse ourselves in the mud while Mom is offering to clean us up with soap and water. We want to be clean. We just don't want it that badly. We need to stop trying to justify our bad behavior, stop trying to clean ourselves up and make ourselves presentable, and let God do his work.
He can take uncleanness and make it clean. He can turn ashes into beauty. We may deserve his judgment, but he loves us and has provided a way of escape. Unlike Israel, who knew better and had run out of time, God says to us, "Now is the time." Trust him.
Father, thank you for your patience and grace.
By His grace,
Rick Weinert
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