Today’s Scripture Reading (May 13,
2014): Ezekiel 20
Robert
Mugabe has been consistently labeled as one of the worst rulers of the
contemporary world. When he was elected as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe on April
18, 1980, Zimbabwe was a model African nation. Its economy was on the rise and
its dollar was stronger than the American dollar. Mugabe has been the supreme
leader of the nation ever since. His critics also note that Zimbabwe has also
been in free fall ever since his reign began. Mugabe has been accused of
repeatedly abusing his competition, and that the only opinion that he really wants
to hear is his own. During the 1988 Zimbabwe elections, it is rumored that
Mugabe told his supporters that the only way he would accept the election
results was if he won. In later elections he used coercion, intimidation and
beatings to remain in power. The result is that today Zimbabwe is considered to
be one of the most corrupt nations in the world and one of the least
transparent. And that reputation is not likely to change any time soon.
As the
elders of Israel in exile come to Ezekiel, the action would lead us to believe
that what they want is to inquire from the prophet what it is that God would
want them to do. I mean, why else would you go to visit a prophet – and in this
case the pre-eminent prophet of the exile in Babylon. But God sees something
else. The truth of the situation was that the leaders did not care what it was
that God was saying. They just needed the appearance of going to the prophet to
inquire of God. In the end, all they wanted to do was follow their own desires.
And unfortunately, it does not seem to matter to them that it was following
their own desires that resulted in the exile in the first place.
I wish that
this was a story that was fully contained in the past, but the story continues
today. Too many people go to church not because they want to inquire of God,
but rather because they want to give the appearance of inquiring of God. And
too many Christians are too obsessed with following their own beliefs than they
are with hearing whatever it is that God want to say to them. Too often, it
would seem that the Christian Church would rather lean on its own understanding
than to search out the message that comes from God. It is a situation that
needs desperately to change. The world does not need to hear more of what the
Christian Church thinks, but they desperately need to hear from God of Creation.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel
21
No comments:
Post a Comment