God had been extremely long-suffering and patient with His people. He displayed His Goodness to all of humanity. Each time, they reached a point of no return in their depravity and their sin, He had no choice but to pour forth judgement. Why? Because humans tend to progress down paths of self-destruction, whether individually or nationally. I cannot say that I am any different, were it not for God’s intervening hand of wrath and judgement in my life. That has always been the loving merciful thing to do. Otherwise, I would not have come to realize just how wonderful it is to know Him. He is the answer to every question that we have. The climatic fulfillment of all my desires. Furthermore, He is the Joy that nothing else can give.
Because some of this is a very sensitive subject, let me begin by saying we do live in a broken world. Desires, dreams, and hopes become so miscued, misdirected so easily. Always feeling some gap of emptiness that we need to fill. Our very Being and Existence depend on it. Yet, every search for something new leads to a place of quiet desperation. As Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.”[1]
To quote C S. Lewis, “
“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
Most of my life, although a Christian, I kept searching for love and fulfillment; never realizing I already had it. Much like God’s people whom He gave everything; yet they chased after other God’s and other pleasures.
So how is a Loving Merciful God provoked to display Wrath and Judgement?
Ezekiel through many parables, pictures and words tells us God was just and He had a wonderful reason. So, as I often say in this day and time; God sometimes allows what He hates to accomplish what He loves. His goal is to have a people upon whom He can lavish His love, fill with His joy, and share His glory.
But for us to fully understand His Mercy, His Grace, His Justice and His Righteousness; it was necessary to allow us to see what the world would be without those things. Hence evil is the absence of God. Just as darkness is the absence of light. Dark does not exist of its own. It is the absence of light. Evil is much the same it is the absence of God’s restraining hand. Therefore, for us to understand righteousness, we must see what the lack of righteousness looks like in our own hearts.
So, what were the things God had to cleanse from the land before it destroyed them?
- Idolatry –which God likened to their playing a harlot toward Him after He gave them everything
- They sacrificed their children–Ezekiel 16 20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord God;)
Ezekiel 23 further expounded on Why God’s Wrath and Judgement must come
37 That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them. 38 Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. 39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house.
They had forsaken the sanctity of life itself—God is the author of life for every person. Yet have we not done the same in this nation?
David wrote in Psalms 139
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.[b]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts![c]
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting![d]
God’s Wrath and Judgement must come to cleanse
God allowed many trials in my life. Perhaps I was a slow learner. But each trial taught me more of Him. Now I see how those were the things that transformed me so that I can live in His abiding steadfast Joy. I do believe that this nation will face God’s Wrath and Judgement soon. It must come before we destroy everything good that He has given us. We like Israel and Judah are sacrificing our children on the altar of sexual desire, eroticism, and worldly pleasure.
We have a duty to protect the children of this country who have now been under attack. In the worship of sensuality and erotic nature, their innocence is under attack. Trust me, I do remember the struggles for acceptance as a young girl. Feelings as though I did not fit in; but that is part of transforming from a child dependent on one’s parents for everything as a baby to developing into maturity. It is scary enough without people pressuring them or making them believe they were just made wrong. WE must pray for and find ways to protect our children.
[1] Thoreau, Henry David; Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD? He is our only Hope in Life and Death! Our Joy is found in Him.
If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. There is nothing more important than this; because He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.
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DISCLOSURES
©Effie Darlene Barba, 2021
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. Furthermore, I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
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