The following post is from Carter Conlon, pastor of Times Square Church in New York City. It is a message that has stirred my soul to be less of me and more of Him. To quote the words of John, “He (Jesus) must increase, and I must decrease.” I pray you will also have your faith renewed as we continue to watch the coming darkness approach.
AND I SOUGHT FOR A MAN
by Carter Conlon
The Book of Ezekiel speaks of an hour of decline in Israel— a nation that had claimed to know and walk with God. Sadly, the reality was that they had fallen far from the standard God had set for them. It has been the pattern throughout history that when the sin of a people reaches a certain point, God releases His hand of protection, and the nation begins to consume itself by virtue of its own behavior. We see this illustrated in the following passage:
“And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof” (Ezekiel 22:23–25).
Typically when a nation is beginning to stray from righteous living, the voice of a prophet is raised up to warn the people of what is to come— the succession of events that will inevitably unfold if they do not return to God. Yet in this case, the prophets in Israel had become compromised. They were “taking the precious things,” or in other words, robbing the people of the treasure of God that should have been available for that generation. “Making her many widows” means that families were beginning to break apart; the strength of the nation was being lost.
