Justice is Lacking

 Have you seen this , O son of of man?  Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abomination which they commit here?  For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger."

God spoke to Ezekiel and showed him the sins of His people.   He brought Ezekiel to the temple and showed him the idol worship that was going on in His house.  His people had kicked Him out and set up idol worship in the temple of the Lord.  But just like our church today they also "invited" God to be apart of the service offering up their lame offering of incense.

 It says that they did violence in the land.  This is a theme in Isaiah and Jeremiah as well.  Justice is absent from the land so violence spreads.  Orphans, widows, foreigners, are taken advantage of and violence covers the land.

There is no justice where true worship to the God of heaven and earth is gone.  God calls us to worship Him in spirit and truth.  Justice is concerned with doing what is right when wrong has been done.  Only in a culture of rich worship can we get justice right.  God loves justice and is greatly concerned with it.

I have thought about how our homes our a mini pictures of the world.  We have the opportunity to teach our children justice by how we deal with "transgressions" in the home.  But we need to remember the fundamental truth that faithful church going and worship is essential to us in our daily lives.  We are judges and we are judged.  We will be judged with the measure we judge.  We go to church and ask God to make our hearts open and big to receive His word and grace in the service.  We have open ears that love His instruction and eager hands to practice what we have learned.  Your kids are sitting in the pew listening (or not listening) to the same sermon that you are.  If the word is preached and mom and dad ignore it, you are not a just person.  Justice begins with open ears and hearts to God's ways.  His ways are to become our ways.  We take off the old and put on the new and we learn this in the pew.  Open your hearts to God's ways and be as concerned with justice as He is.  People who ignore God are idolaters.  That is the plain truth found here in Ezekiel and where idol worship is rampant, justice is lacking.