God's Gentle Care

Based on Ezekiel 16-18, Proverbs 20

In this section of Ezekiel, God talks about Israel being a rejected child which was raised by God Himself. God gave the children of Israel everything, washed them of their filthiness, and raised them as His own...only for them to grow & reject HIM. They ended up being too enticed by what other nations had to offer, instead of God. They forgot God's loving, tender, gentle care for them. That God made them what they were in the first place! We can't forget all God has done for us...

"Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. 10: I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk." Ezekiel 16:9-10.

God cleans us up when we don't even know we are dirty, so we can't voluntarily go back to that filthiness once we know better! We need to stay under God's gentle care! He treats us way better than this world ever could!

"And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood." Ezekiel 16:22.

How could we forget those desperate days? Those says we needed God most? How could we reject Him for this world's temporary satisfaction? God has always been there when no one else was!

"Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations." Ezekiel 16:43.

"And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it." Ezekiel 17:24.

God brings up the humble & casts down the proud. If we forget who we were and who God made us to be, then He will remind us...but it may seem like a more firm way of getting our attention than that previous gentle touch. When we know better, why would we reject our God!?

"Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him." Ezekiel 18:13.

While God still allows us to have breath, we need to use it to praise The Lord! That same blood & filthiness which was once washed off will be upon us if we don't! Jesus' Blood can wash us completely if we allow Him to in baptism!

"Man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?" Proverbs 20:24.

We need God. We are always His children. We always need His gentle care!