What God Enjoys

Tell them that as surely as I am the living LORD God, I don't like to see wicked people die. 

I enjoy seeing them turn from their sins and live.

(Ezekiel 33:11 Contemporary English Version)

I love this verse! After 32 chapters of visions and messages warning of terrible judgments for their idolatry and wickedness to all the Middle East countries of his time, Ezekiel gets this message. 

Many people think of God as a mean old man with a long gray beard who is just waiting to zap them for every mistake they might make, a stern and unyielding judge who doesn't want anyone to have any fun. Yes, God must judge, but that is not what he enjoys! The reason for all the dire warnings is so that God does not have to punish or judge. That brings no joy to our Creator. People turning from sin and living--now that is the thing that brings him pleasure!

View from Mount Washburn in Yellowstone National Park. Just a little bit of the beauty of our Creator's world.

A Little Bit of Bible Study

Artist's conception of Babylon in Biblical times.

Today my Bible reading was chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Ezekiel. Ezekiel wrote about his experiences and messages as a prophet of God while he was an exile in Babylon. Well, I must admit it was a bit of a downer. In fact, reading many of the prophetic books that were written as warnings to the people of Israel and Judah in the years before the destruction of their respective nations can be very difficult. When the sinful rebellion against God, and the violence, greed, and injustice of those nations is itemized, I keep thinking that it sounds like the things I hear on the news every day.

The human race has new technology, but sure has not evolved as to character and behavior. It seems, instead, that things are degenerating.

I have to remind myself that bad news is what makes the news. All the good things done every day do not make for the drama the newsfolk look for. I remember reading years ago a comment by Phil Donohue about the days when he did radio news. The motto was something like, "If it bled, it led."

When I worked for the Probation and Parole Department and then for the County Attorney's Office, every day's work dealt with terrible things people do to each other. What kept me from becoming totally depressed and cynical was the fact that through church, family, and friends I knew a lot of good, decent people. Not perfect people, but people who do their best to be what they should be. People who are loving and kind. People who have fun without destructiveness to their minds, bodies, or spirits. People who care about and help others. The salt of the earth.

I have to remind myself of that while reading the horrors the prophets sometimes speak of. And with Ezekiel I try to picture the things he describes, as God has him doing performance art to demonstrate his message to the people around him. Some of these action object lessons are so bizarre I can surely believe they attracted the attention of passersby and gave Ezekiel an audience for his message. These were not easy things for Ezekiel to do. He suffered to deliver the message. He had a degree of dedication and obedience that was truly exceptional.

There Are Some Very Strange Things in the Word

In my personal Bible reading, I am now in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel is a clear example of the fact that being called as a prophet of God was not a call to a life free of stress or trouble! The life of a prophet tends to be very hard, for they are called to frequently tell people things they do not want to hear.

Today what I am thinking about is the vision that Ezekiel was given when he was called to special service by God. To me it is both amazing and bizarre. If reading about it strikes me that way, what must it have been like for Ezekiel to experience it?! He must have struggled to find the right words to try to convey what he had seen.

This is the vision of the four creatures, human-looking bodies with calves' feet, each with four wings (two outspread and two folded along their arms), and, oddest of all, four faces. Each had a human face, a bull's face, a lion's face, and an eagle's face. They stood with their human faces looking forward, each creature facing a different way. Their outstretched wings touched at the tips, so that they formed a square. They glowed. They were accompanied by wheels within wheels, the wheels bordered by many, many eyes. Thus, they could move quickly in any direction without having to turn. And with the wings that were folded along their arms, they could fly when needed.

Well, this is just loaded with symbolism about the all-seeing, ever-present, all-powerful nature of God. I'll let you think about that for yourself. It stirs my imagination to wonder if the creatures are real, as well as symbolic. We know from the variety of creatures that live on our earth, and that have lived here but are now extinct, that God has a terrific imagination. So, perhaps, his own home is filled with even more wondrous, imaginative, beings!

Years ago I read a book by an author who was trying to prove that life on earth was seeded by an advanced race from another planet that had long since mastered space travel, and who periodically check back to see how their handiwork is doing (hence, the UFO sightings). This may have been the Chariots of the Gods book--it is an unbelievable mess, but one thing in it stuck in my memory. In order to try to prove his thesis, the author used this vision of Ezekiel. He believed that what Ezekiel saw was a UFO! One of the visitations from these aliens. Well, the messages Ezekiel received to pass on to his people were not at all supportive of this author's ideas. However, it does illustrate how these visions can capture our imaginations as we struggle to visualize and understand the mysteries of God.