Sorry Ezekiel... That Wasn't Cool

The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears.  Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover your mustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners.”

 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I had been commanded. Ezekiel 24:15-18

Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 24-26; 1 Peter 2

What up Ezekiel?

So I gotta say… this isn’t cool man. Of all the prophets so far you seem to have gotten it the worst
(ok maybe not as bad as Job, but a close second). What happened to your wife? Was she already sick? Did she have some disease or form of illness that let you know that she was gonna die, or did God just snuff her out?

It just seems like God is being real hard on you just to teach the people a lesson. I bet you thought to yourself why can’t these ungrateful fools learn these lessons on their own? Why does God have to teach them with MY life?

This makes me think of something I was told over and over again as a kid. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes rather than learn them on our own. Life can be a school of hard knocks. The more hard headed we are the harder it knocks. But the comparison here isn’t apples to apples. At least when life’s school is in session there tends to be reasons why folks have to learn tough lessons, but you my friend seem to be singled out in a way that is just a tad less cool than being the first kid picked to play kickball in elementary school.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people. That really sucks. When this happens my kneejerk reaction is to struggle to understand. But what happens when it is unexplainable? Maybe that’s when you get stories like this one that you have shared Ezekiel.

I still don’t understand but that’s ok. It ain’t the first time.

Thanks for listening and I hope you can cry it out sometime soon. Too much time has passed with you holding back those tears.

Sincerely,

C