Ezekiel 22 Devotional

Where Forgetting God Leads

“In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.”Ezekiel 22:12 (BSB)

God calls Jerusalem the city of bloodshed and lists her sins in a long, painful catalog (22:2-12). Princes shed blood. Parents are treated with contempt, foreigners exploited, widows and orphans oppressed. Holy things are despised, bribes are taken, and neighbors are extorted. At the end of the list God names the root of it all: they have forgotten him (22:12).

The injustice was not a separate problem from the idolatry. When people forget God, they soon stop caring for the vulnerable people he cares about. The chapter then pictures Israel as dross in a furnace (22:18-22) and condemns every group in the land, from princes and priests to prophets and ordinary people (22:25-29). God looked for someone to step into the breach on behalf of the land, and found no one (22:30). Hebrews says Jesus lives forever to plead for those who come to God through him (Hebrews 7:25). He stands where no one else could. Remembering him each day is also how love for your neighbor stays alive.

To think about: How might forgetting God be showing up in the way you treat the people around you who are easiest to overlook?