Turn Back

November 6

Ezekiel 17-18

Psalm 119:113-120

Proverbs 26:23-25

Hebrews 12:18-29

Turn Back

“’Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his way,’ declares Lord Yahweh. ‘Turn back and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you.  Cast away from yourselves all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!  Now why will you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,’ declares Lord Yahweh.  “Therefore, turn back and live.’”  Ezekiel 18:30-32 LSB

When I was a little girl, I loved watching “Lost in Space.”  It was about a family that went on a journey to colonize a distant planet, but their spaceship got thrown off course and they were lost in space on an unknown planet.  The catchphrase of the show was, “Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!”  It was yelled out by their robot, who was aptly named “Robot,” whenever there was danger to their young son, Will, from various aliens they encountered.  I can still see him flailing his arms that looked like accordions to get Will’s attention.  Today’s verse made me think of that robot.  I can almost picture God yelling and waving his arms telling the Israelites to turn back and turn away from their sin.  Please don’t think I’m being irreverent.  I know God doesn’t flail about like a robot, but I believe He loves us so much that He will do whatever He can to get our attention.  He knew the path they were on would lead to destruction and  He didn’t want them to die.  He wanted them to turn back and live.  God gave warning after warning to His chosen people through the prophets.  He tried everything He could to get their attention and yet time after time they turned away and followed the gods of the nations around them. 

God does the same thing today.  He gives us warning after warning.  He wants us to experience the blessed life He has planned for us.  He doesn’t want anyone to die.  “The Lord is not slow about keeping His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 LSB   “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:3-4 LSB   He is patient with us, but there will come a time when His warnings will be over and everyone will face judgment.  In that day, no one will be able to say that God isn’t fair.  I think one of the things that will be excruciatingly painful about Hell will be replaying all of the opportunities we had to believe but refused.  For all eternity, we will be faced with the reality that we could have believed and we chose not to.  We need to be like Robot and do anything we can to tell people of the dangers ahead if they refuse to turn to God in faith.