Grace in the Rubble
Today’s Text: Ezekiel 6:1-14 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
We continue our journey through the book of Ezekiel where God commands his prophet to continue bringing His sobering prophecy of judgment to His people. God declares that He will bring a sword against the land and high places where the altars for the idols will all be destroyed. The people will also fall by the sword and be scattered amongst the fallen idols. The judgment will demonstrate that God is indeed Lord.
With that said, in God’s prophecy, He also promises to leave a remnant of people that will survive the catastrophic judgment. These are the few survivors that will recall the tragic events that unfolded, remember their sin, and loathe themselves with great regret for their unfaithfulness and rebellion towards God. The repeated purpose stated is for the people to know that truly God is Lord.
Towards the end of the American Civil War, Union General William Sherman led a devastating military campaign through the South known today as Sherman’s March to the Sea. The general’s goal was to not only defeat the Confederate army but to break the South’s will to continue fighting in rebellion again. They adopted the “scorched earth” policy where they would not only destroy military targets but also the South’s industry, infrastructure, and civilian properties. Sherman’s campaign left the South in complete ruins. Homes, crops, and towns were burned to the ground. Railroads were torn up and twisted where it could be never used again (later given the nickname Sherman’s neckties). Food was captured and distributed to only the Union soldiers, not to any Southerners. The communities that the Union soldiers marched through would be left desolate and in complete despair.
General Sherman justified the attack that the South must learn the consequences and cost of their rebellion. The South was physically and emotionally devastated and Sherman’s name was reviled the most after the war had ended. It was a moment of reckoning for the South, a painful judgment meant to bring an end to a long and bloody conflict.
Similarly, the Israelites were confronted with the consequences of their rebellion and only through devastation did the process of repentance and change begin. God wasn’t punishing them just for the sake of being cruel and harsh. He was using this pain to wake His people, to pull them back from a path that would truly ultimately destroy them. Their suffering was not without meaning, it had a redemptive purpose. It was mercy through judgment.
This is part of the grace of God where sometimes in our lives God allows things to fall apart so we finally stop trusting in what cannot save us and return to Him, who can truly provide healing and restoration. It is to show us the emptiness of our idols and how we must come back to Him in recognition that He is indeed Lord.
