Whether they hear or refuse to hear . . .
- From Ezekiel 2
Why would a loving God . . . ?
That's a good question. At the start of the career as a prophet, Ezekiel is reminded by God, that Israel has been a stubborn, and rebellious people. God says that it has been generations, and generations . . . and He has pleaded with his people. Act justly toward others. Take care of widows, orphans, and immigrants.
Did I just say "immigrants?"
Aren't the same people that mock the Church, saying "Enough thoughts and prayers! Let's have action!" the same ones that remind us over and over again, with their knowledge of a dozen or so Scripture passages (that someone pointed out to them), that God commands us to be welcoming to immigrants?
When they do that, they lay bare a reality going back to the rebellious and stubborn Israelites of Ancient times: don't pick and choose Scriptures . . . and don't use them to mock God and His people.
Satan himself, when tempting Christ, used Scripture. He could have taken this angle: "Why are your judgments so harsh? Don't you care about the millions of children that will be forever separated from their parents? Aren't we supposed to be as children, to enter the Kingdom of God? Renounce Your Father and help me save the parents of these these innocent children!"
Evil always masks as Good. None of want to be bad. We just want to be rebellious, too. We want to do what feels good . . . don't we deserve to be happy?
Why does a loving God stand by while his people choose instant gratification, convenience, selfish desires over real needs of truly needy people?
If we knew that our collective, aggregate choices, to choose purity and obedience to God, would save children, feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick . . . wouldn't we just choose the obedience and purity?
God places mercy with purity. They go hand in hand. And when taken together, they work miracles.
God's demands for purity aren't meant to take fun and happiness away from us. It's to take our focus off of ourselves and onto the needs of those that are less privilege.
And in the end, nothing is more fun than turning around lives of brothers and sisters that had been destitute. Nothing makes us happier, than to make others happy.
Our silence lets us hear God. It also lets us hear the cries of the truly needy. And it magnifies real needs around us. And even if we say exactly the right thing . . . or do what really will help . . . if it has anything to do with God the Creator, people aren't going to listen anyway.
So let's have silence. Because that is the solution that works.
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