Stay Clean

“In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.” (Eze 24:13 AV)

I know this is not exactly encouraging, but it is necessary.  Judah had sought the LORD many times and many times God removed the iniquity which plagued the nation.  This is the history of Israel.  This is the history of mankind.  And this is also the pattern of the New Testament saint.  God purges, yet we go right back to that from which He purged us.  He purges again.  We return.  He purges again.  We repeat the folly.  There will come a time when the LORD says enough is enough.  If we are bent on iniquity and nothing He does changes it, His hand of grace is removed and we suffer the consequences of repeated sin.  There will come a time that no matter how much we may wish to be free from iniquity, because of our habitual pursuit of it, it will enslave us.  The only recourse is the fury of God.  That is the only thing that will cleanse us from this stubborn unrighteousness.  The Psalmist uses the term hot displeasure.  Fury means passionate anger.  We don’t like to think of God that way.  But He is.  He can get really upset at us if we continuously yield to iniquity even after He purged us from it.

My wife and I raised three sons.  Boys love to learn.  They love to discover.  They tinker and play in the hope of learning something mechanical.  It doesn’t matter what happens while they work.  A huge mess could be the result.  This doesn’t stop them.  They will poke and prod, pull and toss, bang and throw.  All in for the endeavor to see how something reacts.  This is all good and well except when you are trying to keep them cleaned up for church.  Mom would bathe them all the night before.  She would slick down their hair and dress them in their Sunday best.  The only instruction was, for about thirty minutes while Mom got ready, there were to play nicely and not get into any messes.  RIGHT.  These are boys you are talking about.  Playdo has a way of finding itself everywhere.  That breakfast cereal you left out is not staying in the box.  Crawling around the floor will gather dust and dog hair everywhere on that child.  You may have cleaned him up, but his nature wants to do just the opposite.

If we are going to seek the LORD for stubborn sin, then when He purges, we need to stay purged.  There may be a failure here and there.  That is to be expected.  But to continue our stubborn iniquity as a habit of life will accomplish only one thing.  God will get rather angry with us.  I for one am glad that He does.  I need this truth.  I need to know that even though God is merciful and gracious, He can still get rather upset with me.  If He didn’t, I wouldn’t think He loved me.  Years ago, we were enthralled by the Brady Bunch.  Mr. Brady never lost his temper, never struck a child, or never yelled.  We all wanted a father like him.  Yet, to have someone who never lost his patience would be a nightmare.  Just as much as I desire God’s elation and joy when I do right, I also desire His anger when I stubbornly disobey.  The extremes of His emotions reveal the level of His love.  So, I thank God for His fury.  I deserve it.  I am glad He is not a passive God who lets everything slide.  Praise the LORD He shows emotion when I repeatedly turn my back on Him.  Praise God!  Our answer is to stay purged.  Don’t return to the vomit.  If we do not like God being angry with us, then we need to stop what we are doing. JUST STOP!