Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Matthew 14:27.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, and set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 1:20-22.

We who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Hebrews 6:18-19 NLT.

Our chapter, Ezekiel 16, is long and startling to read. As we read, it’s always good to remember that the very breath we take that fills our lungs is provided by Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. The warmth in rays of sunshine, the cool breeze on a hot day, the clear water when we thirst…all are provided by God for us. Do we turn away from the giver of the blessings that enable us to live and thrive? The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised. Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!” I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered into puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked. Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of My garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you My solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became Mine. v. 1-8. It goes on to describe the beautiful clothes, jewelry, crown, food given by God. And her fame spread among the nations, v. 9-14. And she thought all of that was because of her and trusted in her beauty and blessings and forgot God in her eagerness to turn to the idols of others. God describes her actions for other nations idols as prostitution. You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution…You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of My gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered My oil and incense before them. Also the food I provided for you – the flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat – you offered as fragrant incense before them…And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered My children and sacrificed them to the idols…v. 16-21. And it got worse. Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom. You not only followed their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done. Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before Me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Samaria did not commit half the sins you did…You would not even mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered.’” v. 46-51, 57. It’s so easy for us to look down on others and judge them. And then it all becomes too big for us because if we truly look at ourselves and the times we live in, how can we not see how lost we all are without God? “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you as your deserve, because you have despised My oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of My covenant with you. So I will establish My covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord.’” v. 59-63. God does not break His promises and upholds His covenant. He is faithful where we are not and He makes atonement for us. He is the only one who can. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings You were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written about Me in the scroll – I have come to do Your will, My God.’” (Psalm 40:6-8). First He said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor were You pleased with them” – though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then He said, “Here I am. I have come to do Your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:5-10.

The same Creator God who cared for Jerusalem in her infancy and wept for her before His crucifixion, cares for her still just as He cares for each one of us lost in the darkness of this world. That darkness billows up and we can’t see clearly. Creator God can. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. And He can help us understand.