September 2. Ezekiel 18 – 19

 

18:29 “And yet the people of Israel keep saying: ‘The Lord is unfair!’ O people of Israel, it is you who are unfair, not I. 30 I will judge each of you, O Israel, and punish or reward each according to his own actions. Oh, turn from your sins while there is yet time. 31 Put them behind you and receive a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O Israel? 32 I do not enjoy seeing you die,” the Lord God says. “Turn, turn and live!

 

Have you seen the underpasses with the flood gauges marking the water depth? These are warning signs that help drivers know if the road is still passable or not. But have you also seen the news reports of cars and trucks driving into these high water situations and either having to be rescued, or it becomes a story of someone losing their life? A short public safety announcement has come out of these situations of death – “High water: Turn around. Don’t drown.” That is all it would have taken for that life not to have been lost, or that entire minivan to have been swept away with the father, mother, and children; turn around – don’t drown.

God was the originator of that idea. Chapter 18 of Ezekiel closes out with God’s words, His plea, “turn, turn and live!” This chapter deals with debunking an old proverb that was going around stating that the children would have to pay for their fathers’ sins. God says, no that is not true, every man will have to give his own account. He clearly lays out how He will view the good and the bad and how He will judge them (verses 1 – 22)

Here is a great take away after reading chapter 18; first of all God is fair, (read His reasoning). Secondly, do not let others tell you what is just, fair, good or right! There is only one standard by which any of us will be judged and held accountable, and that is God’s standard. So whatever is politically correct today is probably going to change tomorrow. Whatever standards that have been accepted by the elite of the society and promoted as normal for everyone else, that will change as well. How do you keep up with all the inconsistencies of society and the re-writing of history and the redefining of words and ideas? You cannot. That is why God is the same yesterday, today and forever – so that we can trust Him, and His standards never change.

What needs to change is not God, He is fair. What needs to change is the heart and spirit of man towards God. Turn, turn your heart to God today; whether that is for the first time in your life, or as a prodigal child returning home. Turn around and live!