Sitting on the Fence or Standing in the Gap
Reading: Ezekiel 20-22; 1 John 1 The latter part of Ezekiel 22 always hits me hard. It’s not as though the message that the prophet delivers is any different from what he has said so many times before. It’s the statement at the end of the chapter that is so condemning. From verse 23 on, the word of the Lord that came to Ezekiel laid a heavy on the leaders of that time, and ours. The political leaders, the spiritual leaders, the public servants, all came in for their fair share of criticism. Nor did the common man-on-the-street escape being pointed out. Again the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has had no rain or showers in the day of wrath. There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her’” (22:23-25, NIV). Who makes the decision to go to war and who does the fighting and dying? ‘Her priests d...