DISCUSSION
To be a prophet of God in the Old Testament meant that there were many sacrifices that you were expected to endure. No sacrifice was as great as the one that Ezekiel had to make. For God to illustrate His point, Ezekiel had to watch as his wife suddenly died. If it wasn’t enough to have her die, Ezekiel was not allowed to show any grief. When the Jews came to console him, they were shocked that he did not show any grief or signs of the usual bereavement. The reason for God doing this is simple. Ezekiel’s wife was the joy of his life (24.16), now the Lord has taken her away. The Temple was the joy of the Jewish people, but now the Lord has taken the Temple away. God was commanding the Jewish exiles to mourn over the loss of the Temple, the same way that Ezekiel had mourned over the loss of his wife; without loud lamentation or change of eating habits. The lesson for us today is this, the loss of Ezekiel’s wife, was the loss of an innocent woman. However, the loss of the Temple was because of their wicked and stubborn unrepentant hearts. There are things that happen to us today that are direct results of our sin; the consequences we must pay for the transgressions we have committed. Instead of us mourning with loud lamenting over the price we must pay for our sins, we need to realize that it is only the by product of our own selfish actions. If there is to be any sign of lamentation or grief, it should be one of repentance and not over loss. Let’s make sure when we do sin, we address the pain that it causes the Lord and not mourn over its self-inflicted repercussions.
Prayer Requests:___________________________________________________________________________________