Ezekiel 13:22-23
“‘Because you’ve confounded and confused good people, unsuspecting and innocent people, with your lies, and because you’ve made it easy for others to persist in evil so that it wouldn’t even dawn on them to turn to me so I could save them, as of now you’re finished. No more delusion-mongering from you, no more sermonic lies. I’m going to rescue my people from your clutches. And you’ll realize that I am GOD.’”
“‘You have discouraged the righteous with your lies, but I didn’t want them to be sad. And you have encouraged the wicked by promising them life, even though they continue in their sins. Because of all this, you will no longer talk of seeing visions that you never saw, nor will you make predictions. For I will rescue my people from your grasp. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
In Ezekiel’s time most common people were illiterate and could not grab a Bible to read God’s word. They trusted someone else to do it and were vulnerable to lies and confusion sewn by those who should have known better. It angered God. Jesus likewise angered at those who led children astray. (Matthew 18:6) We in the literate West, littered with Bibles, cannot claim ignorance as excuse for wrong leadership. We do know better.
Lord, forgive my country of her sins. Bibles are so common we have come to disdain their message in favor of that from the exotic East. Forgive me for not waving my Bible enough. I am inclined to hide in the crowd. Help me learn to share your good Word amongst coming and going, giving others a reason to consider that you are indeed their champion too.