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Day 23 Ezekiel 22 Ezekiel 22:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? Yea, thou shalt show her all her abominations. 3 Then say thou, Thus says the Lord GOD, The city sheds blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and makes idols against herself to defile herself. 4 Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries. 5 Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed. 6 Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone were in thee to their power to shed blood. 7 In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. 8 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths. 9 In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness. 10 In thee have they discovered their fathers’ nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution. 11 And one hath committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, says the Lord GOD. 13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee. 14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it. 15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee. 16 And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 17 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. 21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. 22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you. 23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. 26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. 30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, says the Lord GOD. There comes a time when you need to leave people to their own devices. You’ve done all you can to talk to them and show them the error of their ways, but they won’t listen. They continue in their folly until there is nothing you can do or say that will cause them to understand what they are doing with their lives. God told Ezekiel if the people wouldn’t listen, he was to proclaim judgment against the land, and show her all the abominations that took place in her. He proclaimed the lewdness and profanity that took place within her walls because the people worshiped the idols of the nations around them. God also told Ezekiel he would put his people, Israel, into the furnace, as silver, iron, brass, lead, and tin are cast into the furnace to remove the dross, so too, God would put his people in the furnace to remove the dross of their lives, and then they would know he was the LORD their GOD. In all his indignation against his people and the land he gave them, God looked for someone who would stand in the gap for the land, but there was no one to do so. Therefore, he brought his wrath against the land to cleanse it from all its impurities. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, there were many times God wanted to pour out his wrath on Israel because of their disobedience, but didn’t do so because Moses stood in the gap for his people. As Christians, have you stood in the gap for those you love and are acquainted with? Have you seen the direction people are heading and brought the matter to God to bring those you know and love to the cross and not to judgment? 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (KJV) The only way God will heal the land, and our lives is when we humble ourselves and acknowledge our need of him, confessing our sin and turning our lives over to him. Only then will he cleanse us and make us his own. If you feel like you are in a furnace, it could very well be God is cleansing you from all the abominations and transgressions in your life, and when he is finished with the cleansing process, you will be a vessel worthy of honor for him. Take stock of your life. Examine it. What has been your desire, motivation? Who were you pushing up the ladder of success, using any means possible to get to the top? Does your life need cleansing? Is someone standing in the gap for you? It can get very hot in the furnace as God burns out all the dross from your life. Let’s pray: Father, cleanse me from everything that is abominable to you. Take my life and make me a vessel worthy of you. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. Copyright © 12 January 2018 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay