Feb, 2 - Redeeming Wickedness

From the First Lesson for this day, Ezekiel 36:1-15:

In 1987 Mom developed lung cancer from smoking. It was a devastating time for my brothers and sister and me. She was only 50, and the doctors didn't give her much hope for surviving.

After two years of chemo and radiation, we had a miracle: She survived. Against the odds, after getting down to 90 lbs, after spending weeks and months exhausted and limp, she survived.

For the next ten years, Mom worked with those who were trying to quit smoking in support groups and instructional sessions. She had redeemed the wickedness of smoking be seeking ways to give life to others addicted.

Ezekiel's prophecy in Chapter 34 is a story of redemption for wickedness. The Idumeans - or Edomites - were perennial foes of Israel and Judah. Their mountains and high places were strongholds of paganism, wickedness, and people opposed to God and His people.

God's judgment was waiting for Idumea: "Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey... ye have borne the shame of the heathen..."

God isn't content for wickedness to be judged. God wants wickedness to be redeemed. More than making lemonade from lemons, God doesn't make wickedness bearable: He redeems it completely.

"...ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come... I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown... I will multiply men upon you... the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded... I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit... and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD."

Thanks be to God for His mercy in times when I've wandered into wickedness. And thanks be to God for the redemption of those times, the "making of all things new" in Christ.