When Your Heart is In-Tune With…

Not many people will ever write about this section of Ezekiel chapter 9, but when I read it I can’t help but think about God knowing our hearts. Even in the midst of all this wickedness and violence, God marks the foreheads of all whose hearts are aligned with His. Even in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, God’s mercy is on display. Yes, they had to suffer for the sin of others, but God spares them because that’s what God does. When your heart is “in-tune” with God’s heart, you grieve at what grieves Him, and rejoice with what He rejoices. Even if you have to suffer for those who’s hearts are far from Him.

4 He said to him, “Walk through the streets of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of all who weep and sigh because of the detestable sins being committed in their city.”5 Then I heard the Lord say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! 6 Kill them all–old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin right here at the Temple.” So they began by killing the seventy leaders. 7 “Defile the Temple!” the Lord commanded. “Fill its courtyards with corpses. Go!” So they went and began killing throughout the city.8 While they were out killing, I was all alone. I fell face down on the ground and cried out, “O Sovereign Lord! Will Your fury against Jerusalem wipe out everyone left in Israel?”9 Then He said to me, “The sins of the people of Israel and Judah are very, very great. The entire land is full of murder; the city is filled with injustice. They are saying, ‘The Lord doesn’t see it! The Lord has abandoned the land!’ 10 So I will not spare them or have any pity on them. I will fully repay them for all they have done.”11 Then the man in linen clothing, who carried the writer’s case, reported back and said, “I have done as You commanded.” Ezekiel 9:4-11