"None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.
And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live." Eze 16:6
It's a sad story, one of unfaithfulness, shame, and pain. The story of a young man who was passing by a field and saw a little baby discarded out in the middle, in the dirt, lying in its own blood. Born earlier that day, not even washed from birth, umbilical cord not cut, the baby had been left to die. No one cared, no wanted the baby. When the young man approached, he realized the little baby was little girl. He picked up the child and whispered an earnest, fervent plea. "Live. Live."
The young man took the baby home and the child grew into a lovely young lady. He gave her the best of everything. He fell in love with her, and she returned his love. The story seemed a fairy tale in the making, but the end was dark and full of pain.
She betrayed him, shamed him, belied his trust. She was unfaithful to him with everyone who passed by. If that wasn't enough, she took the children she had borne to her husband, and sacrificed them, killing them by fire.
The imagery is harsh, lewd, and revolting. The story of a woman who threw away all that was good and inflicted pain, taking no count of the fact that he had saved her as a baby. A wretched ending to a beautiful beginning.
Ah, but this is not quite the end of the story. The young man, now older, loves her still. He remembers that little baby that he rescued. He still remembers the young woman he fell in love with. He STILL loves her. He sets about to clean up the havoc she has created, in anger he confronts her, and after many consequences ensue, he reconfirms his vows to her.
"Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant...And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD" Ezk 16:62
And now we know who the young man is. Here is God's story, here is how he feels. Did you know this? And yet he loves us.
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
No comments:
Post a Comment