Storytelling is a powerful art form. A good story has the power to thrill us or soften us or enrage us or lighten our hearts; a good story makes us care. I believe God designed us to be entranced by stories because he himself loves stories. In fact, Jesus himself constantly taught with stories in parables, plus the full breadth of God’s Word is one whole mesmerizing story! God constantly speaks to his people using stories, because he constantly wants to convince us to care. Unfortunately, sometimes those stories have to take a negative spin.
For context, Israel had been blatantly rebelling against God for centuries, and now it’s only a couple years until God will bring mighty Babylon against them. Does that seem a bit harsh on God’s part? It’s not—and to prove it’s not, he tells a story through the prophet Ezekiel. The story is a sad one that some of us can painfully relate to. A father of two beloved daughters watches as they both spit in his face and run away with the most dishonoring abominations imaginable. The imagery is grotesque and embarrassing. And as it always does, their sin leads to their miserable destruction. If you’re a parent who has experienced something similar, I can only imagine that there is nothing nearly as painful. And God, who raised up two beloved holy nations only to watch them turn to grotesque evils, would agree.
No matter how big of a deal we think sin is, it’s a bigger deal still; but these stories that God tells us really stress the idea. Our sin is rebellion against our Father, and rebellion against our Father is an insurmountable evil—not to mention the fact that it destroys us anyway! Naturally, just like the disappointed father in the story, God punished his people soon after. But then the story leaves us on a cliffhanger. Will the Father dejectedly leave his children to their own devices? Or will he do the incredible and impossible and run after them with love? Not to spoil the surprise, but the climax is a couple chapters later, and it resolves the deep conflict so fantastically, with such an incredible act of redemption, that you would never have imagined it. Just wait until Christ enters the scene! Then you’ll see why, despite how hopeless this early part seems, this turns out to be the greatest story God has ever told.
