Journey to ResolveResolution 11: Allow God to Correct Me

 

Some countries have already celebrated Thanksgiving this year. My country will celebrate next week. It’s a time of looking back with family or friends to acknowledge our blessings (or harvest, historically). But it’s not always a positive reflection. Sometimes there’s baggage. Maybe often. Sometimes it’s our baggage or our shortcomings. We might even feel like walking away from God. Or maybe we already have. If we carry this into Thanksgiving week, or just in life, this Resolution 11 is for us.

 

We began our “Journey to Resolve” in July 2024. (Sorry it’s taking so long to cover all 15 resolutions!) The articles in this series have been New Year’s resolutions throughout the year, not just at the beginning. So far, we’ve enjoyed some very brief book surveys and stories that highlight important parts of Israel’s history. And our last two resolutions were drawn from two books of poetry and wisdom: Job and Proverbs. We circle back now to a sweeping look at Israel’s history as we visit the Prophet Ezekiel in the last Old Testament book in this series. God sent Ezekiel to deliver some unhappy messages: messages of judgment toward Israel, judgment toward other nations, and judgment toward Jerusalem.

Israel was already in exile when we come to our 20:25 verse in Ezekiel, which seemed like the end for them – the end of God’s favored nation. In fact, Ezekiel was in exile with them. So, we focus on a very sinful Israel in this post. On their own, they were doomed. But God’s message through Ezekiel was not all bad news. He also spoke of hope – hope for Israel, the nations, and all people.

In Ezekiel 20, we find a good slice of the entire book because it reviews Israel’s long history of sins, its future judgment, and its restoration. It spans the timeline beginning with Israel in Egyptian captivity, to its scattering away from the promised land, and finally to a remnant that will be restored.

Here’s the 20:25 verse for this resolution:

So I gave them other statues that were not good
and laws through which they could not live

Ezekiel 20:25

This is God speaking, but it doesn’t seem like something He would say. God gave them idols and set them up to fail. Dear readers, may we never come to the point where God decides to remove His hedge of protection around us (Job 1:9-12). We don’t want Him to give us what our sin nature desires. We want His mercies afresh each day. We want His compassion and forgiveness. And if we walk away from Him, maybe even oppose Him, we want Him to correct us. This next resolution is critical. Resolution #11: I will allow God to correct me.

We are naturally prone to falter and stray away from God. Ezekiel 20:1-21 illustrates this. God led the Israelites out of Egyptian captivity to “the most beautiful of all lands,” but they rebelled by worshiping idols. He gave them His life-giving law and holy days of celebration, but they rejected God’s laws and desecrated His holidays. Yet God looked on them with pity and hoped for a better response from the younger generation, but the young Israelites didn’t do any better.

Then we come to our 20:25 verse. God gave them up to their ungodly pursuits, to their worship of idols and desecration of the holy celebrations. But as we continue to read, we see that God wouldn’t give them what they ultimately desired: “to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone” (Ezekiel 20:32). God said it would never happen. He didn’t want to lose His nation. We begin to see the best part of this story in Ezekiel 20 – that no one corrects our hearts better than God. He is a God of merciful discipline – merciful, compassionate discipline.

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No one corrects our hearts better than God.
He is a God of merciful, compassionate discipline.

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The Israelites wanted to do their own thing. More accurately, they wanted to be like society, but God wasn’t going to allow it. He let them go for a while, but the nation was not lost. He planned to correct them – a hard reset, so to speak. As far as ‘tough love’ stories go, this one is epic. An intensely dramatic rescue on a national level. Adventure with mixed emotions through a tremendously extensive journey. Fear and triumph in a battle for land. Rebellion due to failed recognition of a blessed big picture. Governed by a succession of judges, then kings, Israel as a people and a nation went from bad to worse. There were moments of hope, but, overall, we notice idolatry, murder, and other heinous crimes; division, civil unrest, turmoil, captivity, and exile; and the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. It must have felt like God abandoned them. Or maybe they didn’t even care.

But God didn’t abandon them.

He let them experience what they imagined was better than God’s best. But it was not better at all. It was “horror” (Ezekiel 20:26).

Have we been there?

Have we gone after what mistakenly seemed too good for words?

Have we indulged ourselves because we thought it was just one time?

Have we settled for less because living for God was simply too hard, or maybe wasn’t what we thought it would be?

Did we get tired of waiting for God to answer the desires of our heart?

Did we run after what seemed to satisfy our restlessness, frustration, or disappointment?

Many of us can say we’ve been there. I have been there far more than I care to admit. 

Do we feel too far gone?

Do we feel like we’ve fallen too far?

Do we feel like God will never forgive us?

Do we feel like we will never be our better selves again?

Have we squandered God’s goodness and mercy?

Have we failed too many times in the same way, again and again?

God is ready to forgive and bless us (Psalm 86:5-7). He is ready to correct our waywardness as a father to his children (Proverbs 3:11-12, Hebrews 12:4-8). This is what God said to the Israelites through the Prophet Ezekiel:

For on my holy mountain,
the high mountain of Israel,
declares the Sovereign Lord,
there in the land
all the people of Israel will serve me,
and there I will accept them.
There I will require your offerings and your choice gifts,
along with all your holy sacrifices.
I will accept you as fragrant incense
when I bring you out from the nations
and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered,
and I will be proved holy through you in the sight of the nations.

 

Ezekiel 20:40-41

This is a merciful and compassionate regathering of Israel. Surely, God had been merciful all along – all throughout Israel’s history of rebellion. He preserved His nation. He did this not only to turn the hearts of His people back to Himself, but also to be true to His reputation and His promises as the other nations witnessed how He dealt with Israel. The nations watched to see if God would destroy His favored people whom He rescued from slavery, oppression, and exile. Would He withhold His care and promise as the nations watched? Of course He wouldn’t, though His people needed correction. He caused them to suffer the consequences of their rebellion. Then He promised to bring them back into His arms (Ezekiel 11:16-17).

Will we allow God to correct us? Will we let Him cradle us in His arms.

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Will we allow God to correct us?
Will we let Him cradle us in His arms?

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His correction begins with us.

Do we acknowledge our waywardness?

Will we confess that we’ve been wrong and disobedient to Him?

Will we return to Him in humility and express our sorrow and desire for forgiveness.

Will our confession come with repentance?

Let us not simply expect God to pull us out of the pit we dug for ourselves. Let us not take God’s mercy and grace for granted (Romans 6:1-7). In Ezekiel 20, He promised to restore only a remnant – those who turned to Him in obedience (Ezekiel 20:37-38). Some would not be restored.

Brothers and sisters, let us return to God and remain in His presence. May we allow God to correct us. Let this be our resolution during the upcoming holiday season. Let Ezekiel’s proclamation be our own: In God’s presence we will obey and worship Him.

Listen to this song by Holy Groove. It's a heartfelt prayer -
a plea from a broken and sorrowful heart. I hope you find it encouraging.

Lord, I'm Not Okay
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4 more resolutions to come as we transition into the New Testament...

The resolutions and Bible books in this series: 

I will…

1.     Worship God Alone (Exodus 20:24)

2.     Be More Holy (Leviticus 20:24)

3.     Aim High (Numbers 20:24)

4.     Trust in God’s Strength (Judges 20:25)

5.     Nurture Quality Friendships (1 Samuel 20:25)

6.     Stand for God’s Government (2 Samuel 20:25)

7.     Follow God through Highs and Lows (1 Kings 20:25)

8.     Let God Win My Battles (2 Chronicles 20:25)

9.     Rise Above the Naysayers (Job 20:25)

10. Trust God’s Ways (Proverbs 20:25)

11. Allow God to Correct Me (Ezekiel 20:25)

12. Serve Others Without the Glory (Matthew 20:25)

13. Rely On the Wisdom of God (Luke 20:25)

14. Trust the Words of My Savior (John 20:25)

15. Complete the Work God Has for Me (Acts 20:25)

If you want to dialog more about walking with God as your companion, feel free to leave a comment or email me at authordlv@att.net. God wants to be our companion in life and for life.

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