We Must Pray

Ezekiel 9:4 KJV

And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

The captivity of the Jews to Babylon took place, not in one stroke but in a series of waves. Ezekiel was already among the captives in Babylon but God had transported him through a vision back to see the abominations still happening there.

Originally the Jews didn't think God would let Babylon defeat them (even though Isaiah had prophesied it a century before and Jeremiah had told them to surrender) but since Babylon had defeated them, those remaining in Jerusalem, rather than repenting, got crosswise and determined that God didn't care. Since, in their minds, God had forsaken them they turned their backs on God,  followed after idols and all committed sorts of other immoralities. Judgment was again coming. Another wave of defeat from Babylon was about to happen.

In a vision God showed Ezekiel how He had marked those who sighed and cried over the sin in the city. These would be spared when the next destruction came.

Sometimes there is nothing that can be done about the course a people have taken.

• Their head strong nature
• Their lack of spiritual concern
• Their foolhardy rush into the ungodly

just can't be stopped. But the godly can weep over it. We can grieve. We do not have to take an impartial, calloused and careless attitude about it. I am not saying we should be hateful of sinners, but neither need we be neutral to their sin.

• We can grieve
• We can sigh
• We can cry and
• We can pray

We must pray.