"the cup of faith" as opposed to "the cup of unbelief and idolatry".
In Ezekiel 23, God compares Samaria and Jerusalem to two sisters committing harlotry, involved in idolatry, though they belonged to the Lord. God delivered the older sister "into to the hands of her lover for whom she had lusted". God's judgment was executed upon her and she became a "byword among women". The younger sister also "lusted for the neighboring Assyrians", for all the men "looking like captains". Because of her "harlotry" God told her she would "drink of her sister's cup"--"the cup of horror and desolation" (v. 33). God would "Bring up an assembly against them, (to) give them up to trouble and plunder . . .thus I will cause lewdness to cease from the land, that all women may be taught not to practice your lewdness. They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall pay for your idolatrous sins. Then you shall know that I am the Lord God" (v. 46-49). "In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I have cleansed you, and you were not cleansed, you will not be cleansed of your filthiness anymore, till I have caused My fury to rest upon you. . . according to your ways and according to your deeds they will judge you, says the Lord God" (v. 13, 14).
Israel desired to be like other nations and lusted after the men who "looked like captains". When God chose David to be king, he bypassed David's older brothers who looked like captain and king-material. Instead, God looked on the heart of the ruddy-complexioned young boy and chose him. Outward appearances can be impressive whether we're looking at people, nations, or religions. They can also be deceptive, failing at first glance to reveal what is at the core of their tantalizing appearance.
God used Ezekiel's life to convey a living message or sign to His people. God took the life of Ezekiel's wife "with one stroke" (24:16), and He told Ezekiel he would neither mourn nor weep, but rather "sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead . . .and do not eat man's bread of sorrow" (v. 17). God would "take from them their stronghold, their joy and their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that on which they set their minds, their sons and their daughters" (v. 25). God told Ezekiel he would be a sign to them, "and they shall know that I am the Lord" (v. 27). Dr. Stanley says, "God required some hard things of His servants the prophets. Here He told Ezekiel not to weep when his beloved wife died. God will use the most extraordinary measures to try to wake up His sleeping people to their imminent danger".
God is so in charge! We erroneously think it's all about us and what we want and accomplish. This is true on a personal level as well as family level, church level, city level, and national level. Psalm 127, written by Solomon, tells us differently. "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain." This Psalm also reveals the blessing of having children. Society may see them as bothersome and a burden. However, God has a higher perspective than we do and says, "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward, like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them" (v. 3-5). Proverbs 28:24, also concerns family relationships and says, "Whoever robs his father or his mother, and says, 'it is no transgression', the same is companion to a destroyer".
Hebrews 11, is called "the faith chapter" and "the faith hall of fame". Dr. Stanley asks how is it we can rely on planes and automobiles without question, but fail to trust God. He says, "We have a foundation of assurance built from both God's Word and our experiences of His trustworthiness". And, "Faith is like a spiritual eye for believers: though our physical eyesight may not detect evidence that God is answering our prayer, we are confident He has already begun to fulfill every promise He's made to us." Also, "exercising faith cannot be passive". Action words are listed in Hebrews 11, along with the names of the people in this "faith hall of fame". Abel offered to God, Enoch was taken, Noah prepared an ark, Abraham obeyed, dwelt in the land of promise, and "waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God". Although this city is not visible yet, as people of faith, our spiritual eyes can detect that it is being prepared for us! Thankfully, we are not the two sisters in Ezekiel and we may not be "elders", however through faith and faithfulness to God we have the privilege of obtaining "a good testimony" (v. 2), rather than experiencing the consequences of "the cup of horror and desolation" which we read about at the beginning of today's study.
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