August 19, 2025 -Tough Truths

EZEKIEL 14:1-16:63

Chronological Bible Readings

As I read the below scripture I was surprised to have these thoughts on the understanding of it. (See the thoughts about it in (italic) throughout the reading. I had some general understanding the will expand it as I read and write). I must say when it is all written it is some tough truths.

Ezekiel 16:4 On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. (Your sinful nature that was handed down was not severed. You were born imperfect. A sinner. From the moment of birth.) 5 No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised. (Your disposition on your own is that no one cared for you. There was nothing and no one that could clean you or change your status.)

6 “‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!” (No one cared for you but Me. I loved you in spite of your uncleanness. I cared for you. I could not stand to watch you die so I chose to give you life. Even though you could do nothing to deserve it. When you were a child I chose you as my child.) 7 I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked. (I watched over you and cared for you so that you could grow and mature. I brought you to a place that you were ready to pursue a deeper relationship with me)

8 “‘Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine. (As you matured into adulthood, I protected you and provided for you and cared for you as my bride who I made a covenant with you so that you would know that you are mine.)

9 “‘I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. 10 I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. 11 I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, 12 and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. 14 And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord. (I gave you the best of everything. I loved you, cared for you, protected you and provided for you even in your uncleanness. It was I that washed away the blood of your uncleanness. I made sure that everyone knew you were mine.)

15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. (But you became proud in your beauty and riches. You forgot that it was me who made your success and favor possible. You turned from me to others who flattered your prideful heart) You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. (You were not content with me so you turned to others. Not just one other man was enough for you. You ran to anyone who would tell you wanted to hear . And you forgot about me and all I have done for you.) 16 You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty. 17 You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. 18 And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them. 19 Also the food I provided for you—the flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat—you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign Lord. (You took everything that I did for you and provided for you and gave it to those who did not love you.)

20 “‘And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? 21 You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. (You took the children that you bore under the umbrella of my blessing and provision to you. The children I gave to you as a gift to care for. You despised them and gave them over to suffer and die because you removed them from my protection and put them in the hands of others.) 22 In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood. (You forgot all about where you came from and what I saved you from. You forgot all that I did for you and the fact that you did not deserve any of it but I freely gave it)

23 “‘Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, 24 you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square. 25 At every street corner you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, spreading your legs with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by. 26 You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your neighbors with large genitals, and aroused my anger with your increasing promiscuity. (You became so full of yourself that you no longer saw me. You sought your own worship and no longer worshiped me. You became prideful of all the things that I gave you and did for you as though you had done it yourself. You no longer sang my praise only your own.) 27 So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory; I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were shocked by your lewd conduct. (So, I allowed you to live by your own power and ability and honored your choice to turn away from me)

And on it goes. As I thought about this It made sense in regard to the Israelites. Before the Abrahamic covenant there was no difference in any other person who was living in the world. Living with a dirty blood-stained sinful nature. But through Abraham God rescued them and made them His people. But as they grew in numbers, power, riches and greatness they forgot God and turned to other gods. We need to read these difficult passages and remember and learn from their mistakes.

Application: When I read the prophets, I often get impatient to be done with them. Why do I have to read all this? Because as Christians we need to learn from their mistakes. We need to be able to recognize when we are heading down that same path. We too have been saved from our sinfulness by Jesus under the new covenant. He washed away our uncleanness and called us His own. All that we are and all that we have is a blessing from Him. He is our provider, protector and bride groom. When we find ourselves struggling and withdrawing from Him if we examine our hearts, I bet we will find it all comes back to vein pridefulness. We turn to other things and people because we forget that without Jesus we would be lost. The world tells us that it's about us. Any good we do, what we have, how we live should be seen and admired by others. But when we forget our kind, loving, bigger and better than anything we can imagine husband, we are worshiping the wrong God.

Are you feeling distant from God? Is spending time with Him a struggle? Do you have difficulty forgiving others? Is your generosity calculated? Do you turn to alcohol, food, drugs, media or anything else to deal with your stress? All these kinds of things come from forgetting who our Savior, Lord, King, & Lover of our Souls is and what He has done and will continue to do if we look to Him and trust Him.

Distance only comes from us. He never leaves us but if we walk away from Him that's on us.

If you are not spending time with Him who and what are you spending your time with? If you spent as much time with God as you do with your phone, I bet you wouldn't have no trouble feeling close to Him. You need to think more about how many likes you get from Jesus in a day than the number of likes you get on post.

Forgiving others is easier when we see ourselves through honest eyes. This coming Sunday's scripture is the Parable of The Unmerciful Servant in Matthew 18:21-35 I just got back from discussing this scripture. Our sin is HUGE. We have been forgiven a debt greater than we can ever repay. There is no wrong that can be done against us that can even come close to comparing to all the Jesus has forgiven. If we are not able to forgive, we are forgetting Jesus and looking at ourselves and our feelings as more important than Him and what He did for us.

When we look at our money as ours, we become picky in our generosity and may even lose all ability to be generous. Or we are very generous, but it is generosity from a point of pride. Look at how generous I am. What a good person I am. When it should be thank you Lord for all that you have given me, I am happy to give generously because it all comes from You. You are my provider and I trust you will continue to do so.

The ultimate de-stressor is Jesus' peace that transcends all understanding. Instead of turning in sin to anything in this world we need to turn to Jesus. When we do He will guard our hearts and minds. Philippians ^4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Any time that we are looking at ourselves. Our feelings, our accomplishments, our abilities, our belongings we are prostituting ourselves just as the Israelites did. The good news is that the new covenant doesn't depend on us. Jesus did all the work and even when we do turn from Him, because we always do at one time or another, His grace is sufficient, and He who never leaves us or forsakes us is waiting with open arms to draw us into His loving embrace.