the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Our Daily Homily - Volume 3
Ezekiel 14:22—Ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem.
The sin of Jerusalem was so heinous that God was constrained to send on her his four sore judgments all at once and together. Each alone was so terrible that Noah, Daniel, and Job, had they been living, would only have succeeded in saving their own souls; but how much more when they befell the land unitedly! But, Jehovah says, ye shall come to know, when you review my work from the vantage-ground of the years, that I have not done without cause (or in vain, marg.) all that I have done (Ezekiel 14:23). Ye shall be comforted, when a remnant of sons and daughters escapes, who see and acknowledge their sinful ways and deeds.
Those words deserve to be carefully pondered. They seem to contain the very essence of God’s thoughts in his dealings with us during the present age. "Ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done" (Ezekiel 14:23). We do not know the cause of so much that crushes us to the ground. But if we did know it as well as we shall know it some day, we should have no difficulty in reconciling God’s dealings with his perfect love.
Yes, some day we shall be comforted! Comforted as to God’s meaning in our sorrows and trials! Comforted as to his dealings with our dear ones! Comforted about his government of the whole universe, of which the world is part! We shall see that there was a cause or reason for all God’s stern discipline. We shall admit that it was wisely adapted to its end, and achieved it. We are too prone to judge God hastily and superficially, instead of waiting to see the "end of the Lord," when all his reasons and purposes will be explained from the great white throne (see Revelation 15:3).
