I’ve been asking God to reveal to me who He really is in order to get rid of my own idea of who God is. And I’ve been given my petition: He showed me His broken heart. The following cry comes from the chapter of Ezekiel where God calls His chosen land/people, a prostitute. Where He speaks words of destruction, calamity, an overall; horror. And I once heard a girl say that she had read the bible many many times and still didn’t believe in God. I wondered about how this could be since Jesus says the Kingdom of God is like the yeast that penetrated through the thickest dough1, and I see now it is because she never saw the character of God while she was reading.
I know that many non-believers do not understand why the world works the way it does. Well, I do. It is so we could be brought back to our first and eternal love2. While the following verses seem puzzling at first hearing, I pray that the Holy Spirit gives you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God.3
The Rebellious Nation.4
Ever since the fall of humanity we are aware of the difference between good and evil, so we have always chosen “not God”. Our eyes are the determining factor for what we choose to love.5 And it is our choice to love that has broken the heart of God. Our heart is an intricate delicacy that has a hidden passageway sometimes we can’t even see. That is why we are warned to not trust it.6 However our hidden doorway is not hidden to God, it’s exposed to Him. So He takes us on a walk and shows us, “the walls covered with engravings of all kinds of crawling animals and detestable creatures. I also saw the various idols worshiped by the people of Israel”.7
IDOLS. Hmm. Author Nicolas Emilio Tranchini once said an idol is basically, “you look at it and say, in your heart of hearts, ‘If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” The issue is not that we have these emotions/desires, no, God created us uniquely with a desire. The issue is how and what we do to satisfy the desire. As God was creating us, we saw Him, I even believe I was already infatuated with Him, but God gave us free will as we were born. Ezekiel 16 (NLT) gives a beautiful illustration of our beginnings.
“On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth. No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die. “But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’ And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were still naked.”
“And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord , and you became mine. “Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin. I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather. I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces, a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head. And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and costly fabric and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods—choice flour, honey, and olive oil—and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were! Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign Lord.”
“But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking. You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen? You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me! You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used my special oil and my incense to worship them.”
We took what God created in us and sought the world’s slogan for fulfillment, pleasure, joy, and LOVE instead of drawing it in from God. We took what God gave us, and threw it in His face. The beauty He gave us, became a medium to draw value from. The pleasure He gave us became a medium to leave Him and seek our own pleasure transforming ourselves into gods. Which is satan’s original lie, “and you will be like God.”8 The home God gave us we abandoned to seek a new one. When we leave God, a deep-rooted action in our heart, the hole that needs to be filled, turns to creation aka an idol. God tells Ezekiel, “Do you see what they are doing? Do you see the detestable sins the people of Israel are committing to drive me from My Temple?”9
To drive Him away is to sin. God does not have harmony with evil.10 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Again and again you remind me of your sin and your guilt. You don’t even try to hide it! In everything you do, your sins are obvious for all to see. So now the time of your punishment has come!”11
We basically say to God, “I want you further and further from me because You do not satisfy my needs”, everytime we choose idols over God. Sometimes we do it unconsciously and others we do consciously. The bible says, “and this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”12 So we believe a lie, that God does not know how to satisfy our desires which are needs. This is why God calls us out:
“On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution. Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity. That is why I struck you with my fist and reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct. You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied. You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia, the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.”13
We can’t be satisfied because our source is not God. I am first in being testimony/evidence of this being true. I spent years trying to satisfy my deepest desire outside of God then when I met Him and let Him fill me could I say I was fulfilled. However, when we are outside of God, we hunger so incredibly bad14 we start becoming a being that will dwell in the pit of sin in order to feel alive and good.
“…In fact, you have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment. Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband. Prostitutes charge for their services—but not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex with you. So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead of their paying you!”15
How many times have we as a society, a species, basically thrown ourselves for something all for the goal of “feeling better/ feeling good”? Again the desire is not the issue, it is how we get there. I think of most women’s desire which is to be loved, how many scenarios are there of women doing things for love? And how many conclusions of women still not satisfied? A woman is first and foremost a daughter of God, without that the rest is meaningless.
And the worst part of being in our sin covered in idolatry is that we think, “The Lord doesn’t see us, He has deserted our land!”16, so we also say, “The Lord isn’t doing what’s right!”17. Yet God responded, “Listen to me, O people of Israel. Am I the one not doing what’s right, or is it you?”17 Over and over God has created life in such a way so that those who are separated from Him can be closer to Him18, yet we decide to say back, “We want to be like the nations all around us, who serve idols of wood and stone.”19
But here is the thing about God’s character, even in deep pain and jealous anger He says to us all, “But what you have in mind will never happen. As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord , I will rule over you with an iron fist in great anger and with awesome power. And in anger I will reach out with my strong hand and powerful arm, and I will bring you back from the lands where you are scattered. I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will judge you face to face.”20
God sees what we desire most and out of His great love promises to protect us from ourselves and fulfill what we are looking for. Jesus says this too, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you living water.”21 Jesus is the only thing, the only water that can quench the thirst of a human being because then He says, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”22
So how does God bring us back to Himself?
“I am about to bring war upon you, and I will smash your pagan shrines. All your altars will be demolished, and your places of worship will be destroyed. I will kill your people in front of your idols. I will lay your corpses in front of your idols and scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever you live there will be desolation, and I will destroy your pagan shrines. Your altars will be demolished, your idols will be smashed, your places of worship will be torn down, and all the religious objects you have made will be destroyed. The place will be littered with corpses, and you will know that I alone am the Lord.”23
Hallelujah! God is the only one that can make deep changes! Not superficial, temporary changes of emotion, but deep, eternal changes of heart. “’Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”24 God does this by revealing that all creation can never satisfy and we learn this truth in pain. In a place where you come to an end in searching the world. Rock bottom if you will. If life seems against you, and your heart does not know Jesus, now you know why life seems as a no pattern, injustice, unmeaning or unfulfilling thing.
“…they have embraced things that will make them fall into sin. Why should I listen to their requests? Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Israel have set up idols in their hearts and fallen into sin, and then they go to a prophet asking for a message. So I, the Lord, will give them the kind of answer their great idolatry deserves. I will do this to capture the minds and hearts of all my people who have turned from me to worship their detestable idols.’ “Therefore, tell the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent and turn away from your idols, and stop all your detestable sins. I, the Lord , will answer all those, both Israelites and foreigners, who reject me and set up idols in their hearts and so fall into sin, and who then come to a prophet asking for my advice.”25
People who have been given the opportunity to see that life is just a calling to know The Creator and fail to do so are, “a terrible example… eliminating them from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”26 Paul mentions in Ephesians, “God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”27 When you are a new creation in Christ the way you see life changes and your understanding gains God’s wisdom, so you see why people outside of Christ live the way they do.
But to those who repent: “Put all your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Israel? I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord . Turn back and live!”28 For God cries out, “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord . Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.”29 This is the Father’s heart! John 3: 16
The remedy to repent and be deeply changed is God’s word, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”30 Paul gives us the key: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”31 and by reading the word of God: “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”32 Another version reads, “’So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ”.32 Jesus=ability to change!
When we listen to the word of the Lord, we allow God to make His home in our hearts. “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will sweep away your whitewashed wall with a storm of indignation, with a great flood of anger, and with hailstones of fury. I will break down your wall right to its foundation, and when it falls, it will crush you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”33
“Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you… And I will reaffirm my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord . You will remember your sins and cover your mouth in silent shame when I forgive you of all that you have done. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”34
God never wanted us to live in a world where we weren’t happy. The bible says, “Lord ,You alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine. The land You have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance!”35 So we shouldn’t live in a land where we are not satisfied, fully enjoying God. God says, “’I took a solemn oath that day that I would bring them out of Egypt to a land I had discovered and explored for them—a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the best of all lands anywhere.”36 And even when we reject His gift, He does not respond with all out fury, for He protects the honor of His name. This doesn’t mean God is egotistic, it reveals His character. An all out fury every time we rebel is not God’s response, it is patience.37
“This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of His great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in Him and receive eternal life”.38 However, if you fail to acknowledge Him, you will be faced with His eternal fury.39
“As for you, O people of Israel, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Go right ahead and worship your idols, but sooner or later you will obey me and will stop bringing shame on my holy name by worshiping idols.”40 I once heard a woman say that it will take a lot for a person to anger God because of how merciful He is. This is not a “go ahead and do what you want” statement, it is a warning, yet also a love call. I love that God says, “so go ahead”, because God has the ultimate say and last word. He says, “When I bring you home from exile, you will be like a pleasing sacrifice to me. And I will display my holiness through you as all the nations watch. Then when I have brought you home to the land I promised with a solemn oath to give to your ancestors, you will know that I am the Lord”.41 AMEN!
This is our ultimate goal, to know that He is Lord. Ezekiel 16 mentions that God made wedding vows to us, and I once read Hosea 2: 19 thinking how sweet God was. But as I have matured in my faith, I understand it is eternal, the greatest love I will ever receive. For Jesus says, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”42 God in Hosea 2: 19-20 (NLT) promises to lay down His life for every human being out of love: “I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the Lord.” He is the only one that loves the rebellious, unfaithful nation: humanity.
Index
1- Luke 13: 21 NLT
2- 2 Samuel 14: 14 NLT
3- Ephesians 1: 17-18 NLT
4- Ezekiel 2: 3 NLT
5- Mathew 6: 22 NLT
6- Jeremiah 17: 9 NLT
7- Ezekiel 8: 10 NLT
8- Genesis 3: 5 NLT
9- Ezekiel 8: 6 NLT
10- 2 Corinthians 6: 14-15 NLT
11- Ezekiel 21: 24 NLT
12- Philippians 4: 19 NLT
13- Ezekiel 16: 25-29 NLT
14- Mathew 6: 23 NLT
15- Ezekiel 16:31-34 NLT
16- Ezekiel 8: 12 NLT
17- Ezekiel 18: 25 NLT
18- 2 Samuel 14: 14 NLT
19- Ezekiel 20: 32 NLT
20- Ezekiel 20:32-35 NLT
21- John 4:10 NLT
22- John 4: 13-14 NLT
23- Ezekiel 6:3-7 NLT
24- Ephesians 3: 20 NLT
25- Ezekiel 14:3-7 NLT
26- Ezekiel 14:8 NLT
27- Ephesians 3:10 NLT
28- Ezekiel 18:31-32 NLT
29- Ezekiel 18:23 NLT
30- Hebrews 4:12-13 NKJV
31- Romans 12:2 NKJV
32- Romans 10:17 NKJV & Romans 10:17 NLT
33- Ezekiel 13:13-14 NLT
34- Ezekiel 16: 60, 62-63 NLT
35- Psalms 16:5-6 NLT
36- Ezekiel 20:6 NLT
37- Ephesians 2: 7 NLT
38- 1 Timothy 1:15-16 NLT
39- Ezekiel 18: 24 NLT
40- Ezekiel 20:39 NLT
41- Ezekiel 20:41-42 NLT
42- John 15: 13 NLT