As God prepares Ezekiel to go deliver His message to Israel about how badly they have sinned, He says:
For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
Boiling that down: “Someone who doesn’t even speak your language would ‘get it’ better than your own people are going to ‘get it’.” Sounds like something that I would say in my darker moments. But God?
Call it what you want — cynicism, dark humor, smart-aleck — it’s there in the Bible. I’m not really sure what to make of it, but we have to deal with it somehow.
My dad and I were discussing (via email) the state of the job market and corporate America in general. We were comparing viewpoints, both from a generational perspective, and also from the perspective that he’s always worked for (relatively) small companies while I’ve always worked for a big one.
I was bemoaning the general state of things, and specifically how the employee/company dynamic has changed. From my email:
Anyone with any intellectual honesty will admit that there is no loyalty shown by any company to its employees these days, so it’s silly to expect the employees to be loyal to the company.
I also noted that most executives in larger companies are usually glad when employees leave, because that simply means “less overhead (which is all we are to them).”
Dad reminded me of Colossians 3:23-24, a passage that Paul wrote concerning slaves, but that is just as applicable to employees of today:
And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
I thanked him for the reminder, and also noted wryly that, given how unworthy “men” have shown themselves to be to be “worked unto”, this is not only a formula for good Christian conduct, but it is also pragmatic.
In Matthew 6:26, Jesus asks the rhetorical question to His listeners, “Are you not of more value than [the birds of the air]?” The question comes in the context of not worrying and demonstrates God’s love for us. However, sometimes I lose the impact of that question.
We just finished a 6-month study of the book of Hosea on Wednesday nights at my church. Most of the book is about how horrible Israel has become. While the Hosea-Gomer relationship is a good picture of that between God and Israel, when you get into all that Israel had done, even the gross infidelity that Gomer practiced begins to pale in comparison.
But the last chapter is a call to repentance and a telling of all that God will do in Israel’s restoration. Of particular interest to me are verses 5-7:
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
He shall grow like the lily,
And lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
6 His branches shall spread;
His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And grow like a vine.
Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
In those three verses alone, God draws upon several of His creations to use as illustrations. It is as though He is saying, “There’s not one single thing that I have made that can adequately describe all that I am going to do through you.”
This is what God thinks of us.
