Ezekiel 24.21 Say
to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to
desecrate my sanctuary—the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of
your eyes, the object of your affection. The sons and daughters you left behind
will fall by the sword’. – God
Sometimes one just has to stop and think: What is the stronghold in which I take
pride, the delight of my eyes, the object of my affection? And then: what would happen to me if it were taken
away? Or, perhaps: what would happen
to me if it were proven false? As one considers questions like that, one
might question how one really feels about life, and experience, and affections.
In life, most of us experience love and affections. We
may or may not express them, but we for sure have them. Most everyone has had a
crush or two (or more). Most everyone falls in love and there is a marriage. Or
we experience pride, a sense of accomplishment, or a place to put our affections:
race, creed, sexuality, patriotism. We look for winning and winners and want to
be a part of what we feel as right. We want to feel included.
So, what happens when these things are taken away,
perverted, or found to be less than worthy? It makes us (or ought to) question
why we put such emotional energy into them in the first place. Or it makes us
question our true feelings having put such emotional energy into such
affections.
In Ezekiel 24, the prophet was told that his wife was
going to die suddenly; with one blow
(Ezekiel 21.16). Ezekiel was instructed to witness his wife’s passing and arrest his emotions as he witnessed that
event. As a man, a married man, I mentally put myself into that moment and
considered the emotional ties I have with my own spouse, (someone I have known
on a level I have never shared with any other human being.)
As I write this I think about my own affections and the things
into which I have placed my emotional energy. I began to really think about my
relationships with my church, my vocation, my country, my political leanings.
What would happen if they all were taken away, or proven false?
God allowed His Temple (and Jerusalem) to be desecrated.
God, I think, invested emotionally in these things only to watch as the
pinnacle of His creation, His people urinated (figuratively) on them. He had to
watch, arresting His emotions, as His people made a mockery of what He had
ordained for them.
So, God told His people they had to arrest their own
emotions as they witnessed the destruction of all they put their pride and
affections into: their culture, their race, and their religion; all of it was going
to be wiped away and proven false.
It makes me think of what I hold near and dear, and why;
and what would my heart become if the objects of my affections and pride were desecrated,
and/or destroyed?
Father, help me to
carefully hold the things I hold dear. Help me to faithfully hold these things
in the light of Your love and instruction, and always to be careful that they
don’t become some kind of substitute for You. Thank You for Your gifts, but
thank You for You: the Stronghold in which I take pride, the Delight of my
eyes, the Object of my affection. Amen
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