Ezekiel 20:5 “Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord. When I chose Israel—when I revealed myself to the descendants of Jacob in Egypt—I took a solemn oath that I, the Lord, would be their God.”
Ezekiel opens up a door here for a thought that we need to be reminded of. The thought is that God made a promise to be the God of Israel and that means that God will be their God whether they like it or not. It means that in Israel’s rebellion, the living God will not allow their idolatry to go unnoticed. The living God will do what is necessary to be their God even if it means sending destruction upon them. To be Israel’s God means to do what is necessary to call them back home even if that means sending them into physical exile to help them realize they’ve been in exile for a long time.
What do we do with texts like this? What do we do with the fact that when we are baptized this same God makes a promise upon our lives to be our God? Will God act with us in our disobedience the same way God did with Israel? Does belonging to God mean that we may go to exile for our idolatry and that this is God being our God? We often find ourselves living in the midst of a culture that thinks belonging to God means a free pass but yet this text seems to hint at the exact opposite. It seems that the only free pass is not belonging to God at all because belonging to God means that He is going to act as our God in whatever means necessary even if that means sending us into exile. I’m not sure where to go from here, but am reminded that through Jesus, God owns me and has a stake in my life which means that God does what ever it requires to be my God even if that means sending me to exile to be reminded who I belong too.
Lord Jesus, I come today as a baptized piece of the body of Christ and proclaim that I belong to you. Help me to live into what it means to belong to you. Be my God and live into your covenant in my life. Show me those places where I am sacrificing loyalty to you. When necessary send me to exile and remind me who I belong to; help to keep me focused upon you and how you want to use me in this world. Amen.
Belonging to God means God will be my God and this dangerous business.
Click here for Crossroads Church!
