"Then I passed by....."

Yesterday while I was in the car line waiting to pick up my daughter I did my lesson in the bible study I have been working on about David.  One of  the passages to read was Ezekiel 16:1-7.  I decided to keep reading and by the time I reached the end of the chapter I was in tears.  We are Jerusalem.  I am Jerusalem.  I thought of all God had done for me, all he had saved me from, how dead I was in my sin when he found me, and how he cleaned me up and said "LIVE!". 

Then I thought of all the ways I have used the gifts he has given me for my own selfish gain or paraded them around as something that was mine, that I deserved and had worked for solely on my own strength.  And how as if that isn't enough I spit in the face of the Lord and prefer anothers company; be it money, comfort, happiness, or even friends. 

I thought how he said that prostitutes get paid for what they give away, but you are paying for what you give away.  You are funding your own stupidity and destruction.  I thought about how our culture is in love with self-love, fame, fortune, health, and everything else that we seek to fufill what only God can.  We weren't made to bring ourselves glory, only to bring God glory and nothing else will fufill that purpose in us.  We spend thousands of dollars, a lot of time, energy, heartache, and strife, on what doesn't matter.  We are paying to find our purpose and losing our souls in the process.  I forget what is important in life and fund my own stupidity and destruction!

I deserve to be publicly shamed!  Don't we all.  We all have those sins that we think, "wow if they only knew."  Some of us have been shamed by our own actions or by others exposing our sin.  Either way God uses it for our good and his glory. 

As I read through the chapter and thought of all the ways I have disgraced and turned my back on my Savior and how I deserve everything the Lord was going to do to Jerusalem I was overwhelmed by his grace and love for us.  And then I read this one verse and thats when I wanted to jump out of the car and tell everyone in the car line, "HEY!! Come read this!!  Isnt this amazing!!"  

"Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you."  Ezekiel 16:60

WHAT?!  We don't deserve that!  I am constantly amazed at how in the bible God always refers to the covenant he made with his people.  We are his and he is ours.  I am no better and probably would fit in well with Jerusalem.  We all would.  I don't deserve his love or forgiveness but I am so thankful that he made a promise to me.  He found me, cleaned me up, and said "LIVE".  To God be the glory!

Then I heard this song and thought it was appropriate!