The Jilted Groom

There are days when I'm just in the mood for a really intense love story. My love stories look a bit different from the typical Nicholas Sparks. I don't want just love, I want passion, emotion, I want the subjects to be raw in their pursuits for one another.

Then God brought me to Ezekiel 16. Oh my word, Jesus. Talk about serious, intimate, raw moments with the King. Lets take a look, particularly half way down starting at verse 5. .

Ezekiel 16:5-14 "No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born."

Woah. Stop here. Look at us, humans, tossed to the side like trash being thrown into open fields. In this text though God is directly talking to Jerusalem and showing them her abominations. She had scorned her lover. She had committed adultery by worshiping false Gods.

But then.

Verse 6-7.

"And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare. 

God walks by us, crippled in our own blood, in the most vulnerable of states. We are completely surrendered to Him because we were cast aside. We cannot hide our blood. I love how God repeats himself. LIVE! God doesn't repeat Himself for no reason, when He does, you need to take heed.

The Lord was making you new. He was healing you, maturing you. Is this your season of growth? But look at the end it says, "but you were still naked and bare..." He was not finished. He let you sit in that place of growth for a moment.

 “When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the Lord God.  “Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil.

He walks by again. This scorned lover, hurt by the bride who had betrayed Him, still had enough love and compassion to come back. He always pursues us first. When He saw that the growth and the healing He had given was matured He knew it was the time for love so He spread His wings, His covering, over you.

Jesus, in His perfect timing, will bring you up and out of that blood state and bring you into a state of authority and covering. Power and mercy. Not just that but He goes on to say how He will wash you, thoroughly wash you. He is going to remove that blood, make you new, and then take you as His own.

This is powerful. That past you experienced, those choices you made....gone, by the power of God. You don't have to live with regret or shame. God is redeeming you but not just that He's adorning you.

 "I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. 14 Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God."

You've wallowed in your blood, you've suffered, you went through trials and pain but God has brought you up. He's ready to adorn you and that doesn't mean you are going to be perfect. What it means is that you have the strength to let Him lead you, break you, mold you.

You are beautiful because of the splendor of the Lord bestowed upon you. Not because of anything you've done. All you can do is walk in His righteousness.

God was a jilted groom reminding us of all He had done for us. It seems strange, I know, to think of God in this way but it shouldn't. How often do we reject Him to follow our own desires and impulses and than return later begging for forgiveness? We can find great comfort in the fact that our heavenly Father will wash us, over and over again.

Let Him wash you today.