That's All

When I consider myself, it seems impossible to be saved. When I consider Christ, it seems impossible to be lost.

Ezekiel 16

When you were born they threw you out in the field while you were still covered with blood. Your umbilical cord was not properly cut and tied. You were not washed, rubbed with salt or wrapped in a blanket. No one had pity on you or had compassion enough to save you and clean you up. You were thrown in the open field because no one wanted you, and there you lay.

Then I passed by and saw you covered with blood. I stopped and said to you, "Don't cry, little one. I'll take care of you and you will live." I made sure you were taken care of, and you grew up like a healthy plant set in the most fertile soil. You grew to be tall and strong. Your breasts were well-formed and your hair was beautiful, but I saw that you were naked and bare.

Later when I came by, I saw that you were old enough to marry, so I put my coat over your body to cover you. I promised to marry you, and you accepted. I took an oath to be yours, and together we we entered the marriage covenant, and you became mine. I remembered how I had found you in the field, washed off the blood, and anointed you with oil.

Years later when you pledged to be mine, I gave you richly embroidered dresses, fine leather sandals and a costly silk cloak for your shoulders. I gave you expensive ornaments--bracelets for your wrists and a chain of pure gold for your neck. I gave you small jewels for the side of your nose, earrings for your ears and a beautiful crown for your head. You were adorned with gold and silver. You had clothes made of the finest linen, expensive fabrics and embroidered cloth. You ate nothing but the best--bread made of the finest flour, the choicest honey and the purest olive oil. You became very beautiful and soon rose to become queen. The nations heard how perfect and beautiful you were. They saw that I had surrounded you with riches, and you became the most desired among them.

But you put your trust in your beauty and used your international fame to entice many lovers. You became a prostitute and lavished your favors on anyone who wanted them. You took the beautiful clothing I had given you and used them to decorate the places you had built for your gods. You worshiped them and prostituted your body to honor them. Such things should never have happened. You took the expensive ornaments and the gold and silver which I had made especially for you, and made male idols which you worshiped, and you committed prostitution with them. You took the costly fabrics and embroidered dresses I had given you and made clothes to decorate your idols. You took the oil and incense I had suppled for you and offered them to your gods. You took the good food I had provided for you--bread from fine flour, the choicest honey and the purest olive oil--and offered it to your idols as a sacrifice. I, the Lord, your husband, saw all this.

To make things worse, you took your infant sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them to your idols, as if your prostitution were not enough for your gods. You placed my babies in the arms of these idols and then burned them to death as a sacrifice. While giving yourself to idols and prostitution your body for them, you forgot about your birth, when you lay naked in the field covered with your own blood.

I will renew the marriage covenant I made with you and you will know that I am still your husband. I will make an atonement for you and for all the sins you committed.

Then you will remember what I did for you, and you'll feel ashamed of what you have done and will never repeat it.

I, your Sovereign Lord, have spoken.