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Day 7 Ezekiel 7 Ezekiel 7:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Also, thou son of man, thus says the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. 3 Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations. 4 And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come. 6 An end is come, the end is come: it watches for thee; behold, it is come. 7 The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwell in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. 8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. 9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smites. 10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded. 11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them. 12 The time is come, the day draws near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. 13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. 14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. 15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. 16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity. 17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. 18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. 19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity. 20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them. 21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it. 22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it. 23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. 24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. 25 Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. 26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall be upon rumor; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients. 27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD. What does it take for you to know you’re in trouble? Do you know it with the first setback, or when there is one setback after another, and nothing you do makes any change in your circumstances? God didn’t only judge Israel for all its abominations and disobedience against him. God judged the land also, the whole land, not just part of it. Israel had worshiped idols, built altars, and caused the land to become an abomination to God. Therefore, he brought judgment on the land as well. As Christians, you have the law of grace and forgiveness working in your life. However, if you have allowed compromise to settle in your life, you too will find trouble in your life. Satan is subtle. He makes sin and worldly pleasures look good, so that you don’t know you have strayed from God until trouble comes your way, and perhaps not even at the first hint of trouble, but after your troubles have multiplied, do you realize something is wrong, and you aren’t living the life you expected as a Christian. Remember, Satan will not only package his product to look good and harmless, he will also bring trouble your way when you start running after what he offers. Satan makes accusations against you before the throne of God. He lets God know every sin you committed, and that after he lured you into the sin. Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (KJV) You must examine your life daily to determine if you are following after what God wills for you, or if you have accidentally strayed from God and run after the world, compromising your walk with God. Israel compromised her relationship with God by allowing the world to influence their actions, and no amount of persuasion from the prophets God sent to them would deter them from the path of destruction they were on. So that in the end, God not only sent Israel into captivity, but he brought judgment against the land to purge it from all the sin done in it. Only when the land was purged, and Israel acknowledged God, would God bring them home. Only when you purge your life from all the compromise you entertained, will God bring peace back to your life, and you will see God’s blessings once again. Let’s pray: Father, help me examine my life daily to ensure I have not strayed from you and allowed the deceits of this world to compromise my relationship with you. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. Copyright © 26 December 2017 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay