A Helping Hand

Based on Ezekiel 20-21, James 5

"and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;" Ezekiel 20:5

"in the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands: then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the LORD your God." Ezekiel 20:6‭-‬7

Many times in this chapter, it is mentioned that God "lifts up His Hand" unto His people. In lifting up His Hand, He brought the Israelites out of Egypt, on their way to the land of promise. The only thing God asked of them was to rid themselves of abominations & evil things...but unfortunately, this story is filled with back & forth, serving God or serving themselves. God then had to lift His same loving Hand against His people. God doesn't ask much of us! We want His helping Hand upon us instead of His Hand of judgment!

"Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth." Ezekiel 20:22

God withdrew His Hand of help, and the people were delivered to their own ways, which honestly were a judgment upon them, because helping ourselves is never as promising as humbling ourselves & accepting The Lord's help! Babylon would ultimately end up being their master, instead of the gentle helping Hand of The Lord...we must pray & ask God to help us put aside our ways for His! Best trade-off ever!

"and I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out." Ezekiel 20:34

There is a beautiful part of the passage where God speaks to Ezekiel about how He will, after a period of time, come back for His people with that mighty Hand of help again...He will still have fury. He will still be stirred up about the process...yet He is so longsuffering! He always reaches back into our lives, seeing if we will reach back...will we?

"Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

James 5:8

He is always knocking on our hearts, but there will be a day He comes for the final time. Will we accept His Hand of help, or accept the wrath that will be to follow later because of our selfish ways? God knows us better than we know ourselves! We need His helping Hand!