20221027

we need a bigger plan

Ezekiel 27:26-36 (JDV)

Ezekiel 27:26 Your rowers have brought you onto the high seas, but the east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the sea.
Ezekiel 27:27 Your wealth, merchandise, and goods, your sailors and captains, those who repair your leaks, those who barter for your goods, and all the warriors on board, with all the other people within you, sink into the heart of the sea on the day of your downfall.
Ezekiel 27:28 ” ‘The countryside shakes at the sound of your sailors’ cries.
Ezekiel 27:29 All the oarsmen disembark from their ships. The sailors and all the captains of the sea stand on the shore.
Ezekiel 27:30 Because of you, they raise their voices and cry out bitterly. They throw dust on their heads; they roll in ashes.
Ezekiel 27:31 They shave their heads because of you and wrap themselves in sackcloth. They weep over you with a bitter throat and bitter mourning.
Ezekiel 27:32 ” ‘In their wailing they sing a dirge for you, mourning over you: “Who was like Tyre, silenced in the middle of the sea?
Ezekiel 27:33 When your merchandise was unloaded from the seas, you satisfied many peoples. You enriched the kings of the land with your abundant wealth and goods.
Ezekiel 27:34 Now you are wrecked by the sea in the depths of the waters; your goods and the people within you have gone down.
Ezekiel 27:35 All the residents of the coasts and islands are appalled at you. Their kings shudder with fear; their faces are contorted.
Ezekiel 27:36 Those who trade among the peoples scoff at you; you have become an object of horror and will never exist again.”‘”

we need a bigger plan

Shrewsbury* notes on today’s text: “The Prophet retains a nautical phraseology in describing the impending destruction of the magnificent city. By the “rowers he means the statesmen, and by the “east wind” the army of Nebuchadnezzar, and subsequent armies investing Tyre on the east, or land side, to her utter ruin” (111).

The imagery of the city of Tyre as a great ship is mingled with a prediction of how the city would be destroyed by invading armies. The dirge continues to show how all those nations that traded with Tyre were appalled by its destruction.

When our lives are over, so much of them — even how much others depended on us — will be silenced. That is when we need hope in a bigger plan — a plan that includes our resurrection and glorification. We can do a lot in this life, and we should. But it is all temporary. For God to be truly glorified by us, there must be a bigger plan.

• *Shrewsbury, W. J., and J. V. B. Shrewsbury. Notes on Ezekiel, Critical and Explanatory: [With the English Text]. 1863.