GOD WALKS OUT ON A LOVER

– A narrative on Ezekiel 10

THE DIVINE PROMISE “I will be with you always” (Matthew 28:20) recurs in various forms throughout Scripture. But just occasionally, it is revoked. God is patient. God is love. Sometimes, however, his people become so insufferable that like an exasperated lover he walks out.

In Ezekiel’s vision he leaves his “house”, the temple in Jerusalem, before it is destroyed. The symbolism is powerful. It says to the Judeans that God is leaving them to their own devices. His holiness cannot co-exist with their sinfulness.

It wasn’t the first time he had walked out like that. When the ark of the covenant was captured by the Philistines in Samuel’s day, it was said that the glory of the Lord had departed (1 Samuel 4:21,22).

It won’t be the last time, either. Churches, like ancient castles, can become empty shells from which the Spirit of life has departed. Those that survive the invasion of property developers may echo with liturgy but do not vibrate with life. There were some like that even in New Testament times (Revelation 3:1,2).

And people once zealous for God became shipwrecked on the reefs of materialism; no longer able to catch the wind of the Spirit they drift on the tide (1 Timothy 1:19; 2 Timothy 4:10) while God sails on without them. He will stay as long as you want him to, but he never outstays his welcome.