Ezekiel 16 is such an intricate piece of writing which contains so much meaning. When you meditate on it, it stirs the heart to feel a small bit of what God feels when His people are unfaithful to Him.  

Ezekiel 16:3-5

Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.

What a vivid image of this baby discarded, thrown away. This is who we were before God rescued us. Here God speaks about Israel before He made them His people, but this is also the image of us before God recused us. God made man and gave him all that he needed to live a blissful life, but man made a different choice, resulting in a similar faith.

Ezekiel 16:6-14

“And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.

“When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.

God had mercy upon Israel. He took them in as His own, and He cleaned them up and adorned them. He gave them new life. He gave them hope in a God who could do mighty things. He made them prosper.

God did this for us too. We were like this hopeless baby slowly dying in that open field. No one else could rescue us but Him. God had mercy upon us, and even though we were in this state due to our own choice, He chose to rescue us. He chose to give us a new life and redeem us from the enemy. He strengthened us and provided all that we need to live this life for Him. He blessed us.

Ezekiel 16:15-22

“But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. 

And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

Can you feel the heart of the Lord? Can you feel the betrayal and disregard for all that He has done for Israel? They took all the good blessings that He gave to them and disrespected it; they spat on it; they threw it away. It describes in detail this betrayal, and it outlines how grave their unfaithfulness was. The words powerfully express how painful and severe this is. It says that Israel, even when blessed so richly and brought so far from death to life, were not satisfied.

This makes us feel so angry at Israel for disrespecting God so……But are we doing the same thing to Him now. Are we taking His wonderful blessings, the sacrifice He made out of love for us in Jesus and are we using it to betray God?

Ezekiel 16:23-34

“And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God), you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. At the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination, offering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger. Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

“How sick is your heart, declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment. Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different.

This image of the unfaithful wife, who was not just unfaithful once but continues to do it repeatedly, is so brutal and bitter. An unfaithfulness that was deliberate. The pain of that good husband who she betrays is so great.

It is so easy to slip into forgetting what the Lord has done for us. So easy to not realise that we are letting the world lure us in and with each step, we are moving further away from God and what He has done for us. It is so easy to forget and fall into the very things He has told us not to do, betraying Him and disrespecting Him.

So, take care lest you forget ….

Deuteronomy 8:11-18

 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 

Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 

This passage warns Israel to take care that after they have been greatly blessed and seen God bring them through so much that they forget. It says take care that you do not forget that it is the Lord’s blessing, and you take credit for it. Be careful that you do not begin to think that you have blessed yourself in your own power and have disrespected the Lord and what He has done for you. It tells Israel to remember the Lord your God for it is He who has given.

I know that the reminder is for us too. To take heed that we do not forget what God has done and is doing for us. The Bible confirms that every good thing comes from God (James 1:17). So, the food we eat, the jobs we have, the skills we have, the breath we breathe and all that we have are from God. The greatest gift that anyone could ever receive that He has given through Jesus Christ is ours. In His lovingkindness and mercy, He saved us, provides for us, blesses us and loves us. So, let us beware lest we forget and think that it is us. Let us beware that when things are so well that we do not forget Him. Let us beware lest we forget that we were once dying in the open field in blood, but Jesus came and saved us, and we have hope now.

We have so much.

Thanks, Liz, for pointing me to this.

All photos were taken by Kyle or Vani. These photos are from the many adventures we have been blessed to experience together. We are so grateful for every blessing from God. No filters were used nor were the photos edited except for an occasional crop. We hope you enjoy.