Our Next Breath...

Unbelievers never bring up the fact that God gives us everything, including our next breath. Here in Ezekiel, God tells Israel the story of how He rescued them from death as they were an infant abandoned in a field. He gave them the best of everything, food, clothes, and adornments. But Israel thought its fame and beauty were its own. They forgot God and prostituted themselves to other gods. They even sacrificed their own children to these gods. Their behavior was so bad, God called them “opposite of other prostitutes”, because they didn’t accept pay for their adulterous behavior, rather they paid others to be able to perform the act. If you take in a stray dog and it bites you while you are feeding it, or adopt a child and they burn your house down, how is that grateful behavior? How can a man hate the very One Who gave him life? How can a man abandon the One Who gives him his very next breath? It just goes to show the flesh is opposed to God. It’s desperately wicked, who can truly know it? That’s why believers, in their life-long walk with the Lord, come to know the importance of the Holy Spirit’s role in their life: to keep us grounded, constantly reminding us of our absolute necessary dependence upon God for our souls to find significance, peace, and rest.

6 “But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’ 7 And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were still naked. 8 And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped My cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared My marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord, and you became Mine.9 “Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin. 10 I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather. 11 I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces, 12 a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head. 13 And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods–choice flour, honey, and olive oil–and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were! 14 Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in My splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign Lord. 15 “But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking. 16 You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen? 17 You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against Me! 18 You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used My special oil and My incense to worship them. 19 Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign Lord.20 “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? 21 Must you also slaughter My children by sacrificing them to idols? 22 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.23 “What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, 24 you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square. 25 On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution. 26 Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking My anger with your increasing promiscuity. 27 That is why I struck you with My fist and reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct. 28 You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied. 29 You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia,[V] the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.30 “What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign Lord, to do such things as these, acting like a shameless prostitute. 31 You build your pagan shrines on every street corner and your altars to idols in every square. In fact, you have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment. 32 Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband. 33 Prostitutes charge for their services–but not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex with you. 34 So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead of their paying you! Ezekiel 16:6-34