Surviving the Day of God’s Wrath
Lessons from Prophet Ezekiel
“Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath… for it has caused them to stumble into sin.
They took pride in their beautiful jewelry and used it to make their detestable idols. They made it into vile images…” (Ezek 7:19-20)
There are a number of disasters that leave everyone horribly bewildered: think of the recent fire that gutted a COVID-19 isolation ward in Iraq and left more than 90 people dead and many more injured! What makes that incident sound worse is the fact that the very oxygen that the patients were depending on is what turned into catastrophic fire when sparks from faulty wiring spread to the oxygen tank, causing it to explode. Wasn’t the pain of the COVID frying pan bad enough? Why throw them straight into the fire? When life orchestrates such situations, God is saying something we should not ignore. In Ezekiel 7, the Prophet speaks of worse disasters (expressing God’s wrath), how they will manifest and why, and we can also learn how to escape them.
What is the matter? ‘I will unleash my anger’ – says the LORD. And it comes in form of dreadful disaster, unheard-of, an evil so destructive and injurious, so sudden and violent that it stands alone. When God’s wrath is poured out upon a city, no one will can escape; those who run outside will meet the sword of attacking enemies, while those who stay inside will be killed by pestilence (plague) or famine. (Ezek 7:3-5,15). Uganda has had a sample of such a combination of disasters – locusts, floods and COVID-19; just like the fire in the Iraqi hospital ward. These are just small illustrations of what the Prophet wrote.
How will the people feel it? ‘Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them’ – it will be that bad! When the world experienced the first wave of COVID-19, there were predictions of the second wave; but the latter raked much more havoc even when the world was more prepared! When one’s wealth is rendered useless, the disaster has reached the core, the marrow. And we have seen how money has not helped some people who still died recently; years of savings were depleted in days; even rich nations had their robust healthcare systems seriously challenged; the economy is shaken and many who had risen above the poverty line are sinking back under; the losses of both seller and buyer are painful, but they must bear it for the sake of life. Such is the telling of the economic and financial implications of God’s wrath (Ezek. 7:11-12, 19-20)
What shall we do to escape? Three times in this chapter we hear this same statement: Then they will “know that I am the LORD” (v.4,9,27). That is the only way to escape. No God, no peace. Know God, know peace. God bless you.