16 “Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. 17 Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover your mustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners.”
18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I had been commanded.
I know of a couple who were married for many years. They seemed great, great kids, great house, great friends. You know, a great life. All was wonderful on the outside. Inside, things were not as rosy as the outward appearances would have everyone believe. The inward rift finally began to show, as if something rotten on the inside had finally eaten its way into the light. It was not long before all the shine wore off the shoes, so to speak, what was rotting in private was now consuming all the greatness that had been seen on the outside. The rift had finally taken such a toll that what was once a great life had now been fractured for all to see.
We don’t know much about Ezekiel’s wife, only that her death is used by God to send a message to the Israelites. In verse 16, it says that his wife is the delight of his eyes. Further on in the chapter, we find the comparison of Ezekiel’s wife to the temple of God in Jerusalem. God tells Ezekiel not to lament or weep or shed any tears over the death of his wife. God says to groan quietly and keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet. Do not cover your face or eat any customary food for mourners. In other words, don’t act like you have lost anything at all of great value. Just go about your everyday life as if all is good and nothing is missing or wrong.
The Israelites had fallen far from the Lord. They had sinned against the Lord, and their hearts were hard and evil. The very thing that nation held in high regard was the temple. This was the temple that Solomon had built. It was a thing of great value and stature to the Israelites, just like your wife should be a shining example of God’s favor on your life and the delight of your eyes. This temple was the delight of their eyes, but they had treated it as an object of delight while their hearts had fallen away from the practices of following God.
You may be like this, holding your attendance at church as a delight and a thing of stature while your life spins out of control. You make sure that you look good when everyone sees your commitment to attend church or your devotion to your wife or husband in public. You may even treat your kids or friends the same way, great in public but a monster in private.
The Lord is sending a message here that strikes the heart of all of us: does our outward commitment to follow Christ match our private devotion? Sin has a way of eating away at us from the inside out. After a while, you begin to rot, and the foundation you once held in high regard is now just a facade, an outward show to mask your real lifestyle. Today is the day that you get clean! The Bible says that we should throw off all the sin in our lives. You know you’re in big trouble when you start to rationalize missing church or not reading your Bible or stop praying, while still keeping up the show in public. God knows your heart, and He wants to scoop you up and take you into His arms and bring you back to the flock. God desires to bring you back so much that He will leave the 99 and go looking for you, the lost sheep. Are you lost today? Is your public life different than your private one? Do you see your commitment to Christ slowly dying? Don’t wait until it all gets flushed away, make a turn for Christ today.
Prayer: Father, help us to renew and revive our commitment to following You. Help us to never neglect the things of God or use them for show. I pray that my private commitment to You will show in my public life. I pray that I will always keep You at the center of my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let It Go 
Leave a comment