Ezekiel 6-11
NOTE: We posted the wrong devotion yesterday, so today’s devotion is the same one to get caught up . . .
Sometimes I forget just how sinful human beings can be. I recognize that I will likely always struggle with issues like lust, pride, and self-dependence. But, I don’t know just how sinful I could be were it not for the grace of God.
I think of that truth when I read about the idolatry Ezekiel saw in his vision of the worshipers in the Temple in Jerusalem. Many of these were leaders, and yet they had set up some “image of jealousy” (Ezek 8:5) in the Temple. They engraved on the wall images of “creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel” (Ezek 8:10). They worshiped false gods in the dark of their rooms, believing that “the Lord does not see us” (Ezek 8:12). Women mourned before Tammuz, a god of vegetation (Ezek 8:14). And, in the inner court of the Temple, leaders were worshiping the sun God (Ezek 8:16). It is no wonder, then, that God decided, “I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them” (Ezek 8:18).
And, I’m reminded that I, too, could have been much more deeply in sin today had God not sought me, called me, drawn me, and saved me. I shudder to think of where I might be had I been left to my own will, sinful and broken. In fact, I’m realizing every day that the only reason I don’t go in that direction today is because of Him.
RESPONSE: Thank God for His grace today.