So I said to them, "The LORD spoke to me and told me to give you Israelites this message: You are proud of the strength of the Temple. You like to look at it and to visit it, but the LORD is going to profane it. And the younger members of your families who are left in Jerusalem will be killed in war. Then you will do what I have done. You will not cover your faces or eat the food that mourners eat. You will not go bareheaded or barefoot or mourn or cry. You will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan to one another. Then I will be a sign to you; you will do everything I have done. The LORD says that when this happens, you will know that he is the Sovereign LORD."

Ezekiel 24:20-24

Why did God ask Ezkiel to not give honor to his wife when she died? It seemed so unfair, difficult and unnatural. God wanted to illustrate to the people of Jerusalem that just as the prophet Ezekiel's delight was taken from him, so also their delight - the temple - would be taken away from them. And like Ezekiel, they were told not to mourn in the normal way. The destruction of the temple would be so horrifying, and their guilt and grief would be so overwhelming, and that meant that normal expressions of sorrow would be inadequate.

When we don't obey God, we should mourn for ourselves. Sin is serious.

You never win with sin.

Our Daily Bread - September 28, 2002