Then they’ll realize for sure that I am their God, for even though I sent them off into exile, I will gather them back to their own land, leaving not one soul behind. – Ezekiel 39:28 (the Message)

Ezekiel is filled with lots of prophecies of the end times and the not-so-end times. Just before this scripture, Ezekiel talks about Israel gathering up all the weapons and burning them because they are no longer needed. I don’t think that’s happening soon, but this verse has happened more than once.

One of the problems of having “no problems” is that we tend to become complacent. When everything is going well for a long time, we expect it to keep going well and we become irritated when the good times stop coming. We don’t start examining why it’s going well until it starts going badly.

That was one of the problems of the pandemic. We were rushing around, trying to reach our goals without thinking about whether those goals made sense. Many of us were following routines that had been started when we were kids. Following the same rules our parents followed.  

Saturday was the day to clean the house and mow the lawn. When your boss told you to do something, you said, “yes!” and did your best to follow through. You saved all your paperwork for at least five years just in case the IRS had a question. Those were the “rules.” Unfortunately, some of us started worshipping the rules.

The Israelites had the same problem. When people from neighboring countries started moving into Israel to join in their good fortune, the inhabitants started including the newcomers. 

That isn’t a bad thing, but the original inhabitants didn’t stop to consider what they believed. They just started listening to what the newcomers were saying. It isn’t wise to blindly follow anyone – even if they’re trying to tell you how to worship God. 

Some of us are a bit hard-headed and it’s hard to get our attention when we’re focused on something. I have heard that cattle can become so focused on grazing good pasture that they don’t realize that a fire is heading in their direction. This is why they have to be herded away from the flames. Sometimes I’m a bit like those cows. It takes something fairly serious to get my attention.

God sent his people into exile; but he never let them go alone. Many places in the Old Testament, it talks about how God turned his face away from his people. The interesting thing is that God always came back for them. If part of him didn’t stay with them, how did he know when to come back for them?

Life isn’t easy. It’s a journey that takes us through deserts, high mountains, deep oceans, as well as quiet glades and ponds filled with fish waiting to be caught. The good thing is that God will always bring us back home and no one will be left behind.

Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. She has recently published her first book, Jessie’s Corner: Something To Think About, which is now available for purchase. Based on several lesser-known scriptures from the Bible, this is a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.