Ezekiel 35:12 And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume
Who are the happiest people you know? Recently I have met a number of senior citizens. It is a delight to meet such people who have a joy in their hearts and a happiness in their lives. If I were to think that the reason they were happy was because they had no experiences, because they have had no problems, everything is great, and their health is wonderful, I would be mistaken. So, what make people happy? What makes people bitter?
In Ezekiel 35 we find God’s judgment on the land of Seir, the Edomites, descendant of Esau. These were people who were transparently not happy, and it was not going to get better because God was going to judge them. In Ezekiel 35:2-3 God basically says, “I am against Seir,” and there are two reasons Edom is judged by God and perhaps why they were so unhappy.
One was what God calls their “perpetual hatred.” In verse 5 God says, “Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred.” He is talking about the hatred that began years before with Esau against his brother Jacob, and had grown from one man to a large family to a nation of people. Hatred is something that brings everyone down; it doesn’t make anyone happy. When I hate someone else, I am not hurting them; I am hurting myself. That was exactly what was happening.
Way back in Genesis 25 God had made it plain that the elder would serve the younger. In Genesis 25:23 the Lord said to Rebekah, “Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.” This was God’s providence, His looking ahead, in order to keep His promise to Abraham. Jacob and Esau were what God had made them to be. So, God said to the Edomites, “I am judging you because of your perpetual hatred.”
The second reason these people were so unhappy is because they coveted what belonged to others. There was a bit of arrogance in this perhaps, but they said that two nations, Israel and Judah, would be their nations. They were jealous against God’s people. There are three reasons this was so offensive. First, God was there. When they wanted these two nations in verse 10, God said, “Whereas the LORD was there.” Second, God heard. Verse 12 says, “Thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies.” They were speaking against the people of God. Third, God took this personally in that He said they “have boasted against me.”
Four times in Ezekiel God says, “I am the LORD.” Oftentimes we lose our place in life and we get turned contrary to other people because we forget God, that He is the Lord. Maybe someone seems to have it better than I do, and I get so focused on them that I forget that God is the Lord. The bottom line is that we are ripe for God’s judgment when we disregard His providence. By providence I mean simply what God has provided for me. When I compare what God has provided for me against what God has provided for someone else, I become blind because I see things only in terms of what I have and what other people have. I compare those two things and forget there is a God. So, here is an entire nation that was ripe for God’s judgment because they disregarded God’s providence.
We do this a couple of ways. We disregard God’s providence in who we are. We don’t like our position in our family. Maybe you are the oldest and wish you were the youngest, or maybe you are the middle child and think that everyone gangs up on you. That may be true, but when you are only thinking in terms of what happens to you as happenstance or bad luck, you tend to think that life is unfair and forget there is a God. I don’t know all of God’s design or why God made me a boy, and the eldest, and a Rice, but He has. The only way to be happy is to realize there is a God. I’m not the Lord; God is the Lord.
We disregard God’s providence in where we are. God told these people in verse 4 that they would become as desolate as their land. Their land was desolate indeed. They took pride in their strength as they fortressed in their rocky, hardscrabble land. Their problems wasn’t that they were in desolate land, but they were desolate themselves.
I remember a story I heard years ago about a missionary pastor in Africa, who for a number of reasons had to come back to the United States and ended up in Hawaii. Most of us would think, “Wow, Hawaii is paradise.” There are beautiful places in Africa, but by comparison America is just a blessed place. If I were to compare Hawaii to most countries in Africa, I would probably prefer to live in Hawaii. So, this missionary who ended up in Hawaii was asked how he was doing. He answered, “Things are going well, but it’s not Africa.” What did he mean? He meant that he found joy not merely in where he was but in what he was doing. God had placed him in Africa and then in Hawaii. You can find joy in either place, but the place did not supersede what God had called him to do.
We disregard God’s providence in what we have. In verse 10 the Edomites were envious and had malice in their hearts toward God’s people, therefore they wanted what God’s people had. That is a no-win situation. When I look at other people and wish I had what they had, were who they were, or lived where they lived, that is not a place of happiness. It does not produce joy. James asks, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?” I war with other people because I war within myself. The desire I have makes me less than happy. If I never desired anything again, I would never be unhappy again. I’m not suggesting that I never have any ambition or desire. That is natural. However, to think that if I had more, I would have more happiness is not true.
I think of the people I’ve met over the last few weeks, a number of them senior saints who have joy in their hearts. It is not because of health, wealth, or location. It is because they have come to rely on the providence of God. There is a joy that comes from relying on God’s providence and not comparing my life to the life of another and realizing there is a God in Heaven who is the Lord.