Day 310

Ezekiel 14:12–16:41; Hebrews 7:18-28; Psalm 106:1-12; Proverbs 27:4-6

HAVE YOU EVER considered the emotional life of God? Does God even have emotions? Often, we think that the only emotion in our relationship with God is our own. After all, He’s God. He doesn’t feel things. He just forgives us, and we all move on. He is too perfect to experience distress of any kind.

If we look at it logically, we wouldn’t be reading the Bible if God were aloof. His Word wouldn’t exist. We’ve come far enough in the Scriptures to know that God is not dispassionate. And passion is an emotional thing.

We’ve been hearing warning prophecies for a while now. We’ve heard of the terrible struggle facing the people who will not return to the One with whom they are in covenant. The entire sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel reveals God’s emotional heart in such a distinct story. We must pay attention, because it gives context to what the prophets were foretelling.

The story was of a newborn baby girl. She represents God’s people. She was unloved from the moment she was born, dumped in a field by her mother and left there to die.

God saw this vulnerable newborn —who hadn’t even had her umbilical cord cut —helplessly kicking on the ground, and took pity on her. “As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’” (Ezekiel 16:6).

As the story continues, this baby grew to become a lovely young woman under God’s care, and God entered into the covenant of marriage with her. He lavished the finest of all things upon her, and her beauty was unparalleled: “You looked like a queen, and so you were!” (Ezekiel 16:13).

But others began to notice her beauty, and she liked it. Before long, not only had she committed adultery but she was also prostituting herself. To make matters worse, she was taking all the lavish gifts God had given her and using them to worship the gods of her lovers. God said, “Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?” (Ezekiel 16:16).

This is a story of terrible ungratefulness, but we’re not finished. We’ll allow God to speak in His own words here:

Then you took your sons and daughters —the children you had borne to me —and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough? Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols? In all your years of adultery and detestable sin, you have not once remembered the days long ago when you lay naked in a field, kicking about in your own blood. What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign LORD.

If we’ve ever wondered if God has an emotional life, we should put this thought to rest. And, from the perspective of God, we can see why He sent the prophets. Rather than heralding doom, God was clearly calling His people back. But they didn’t listen. And sorrow came upon them.

If we look at ourselves as the little girl in the story, we might find that our story is uncomfortably familiar. If that’s the case, perhaps an honest conversation with God is appropriate. Find time today to have that conversation.

MEDITATION:

Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly! . . . Even so, he saved them —to defend the honor of his name and to demonstrate his mighty power.