Plauge!Famine! The Sword! ...and Alliteration also

Death! Destruction! Massacres! Mayhem!Panic! Pandemonium! Crisis! Calamity!
... Alliteration! Allusions!
There were several things that I promised my self and God that I wouldn't do in the New Year. This morning I screwed up and did one. I've promised and other synonymous words to give this particular sinful habit up many times before and have yet to every fully and completely get rid of it. Then during my regular fast breaking I was reading Ezekiel chapter five. This chapter contains the foretelling of the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the people of Israel. God tells the people through Ezekiel that He will do things among them that He has never done before and will never do again neither will He have any pity on them. The reason(s); Verse seven makes it clear enough for me to feel troubled. "There fore says the Lord God, ' because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in my statutes, nor observed my ordinances..." The word turmoil struck me, I thought about how the Israelites would, time and time again, sin through various ways and then cry out to God to save them from the coming calamity. One of the sins that they would habitually commit was idol worship...When ever I hear that, I get a picture in my head of someone bowing down and speaking/singing words of praise before a wooden mask type thing they have carved earlier in the day. It's not that simple and humane most of the time. A lot of the gods they worshiped were praised by child sacrifice. And where do babies come from? -well you see, when a man and a women really love each other...- The people would eventually run out of babies and therefore the system that developed was to have-what became know as- 'temple prostitutes.'- Both male and female. (I think, don't quote me on such.) Their job was to have sex with as many people as possible so that the women prostitutes would get pregnant and the male prostitutes would get other women pregnant, and thus they could have more babies to sacrifice. But the two-faced...ness (if you will) of them is what the word turmoil spoke of to me. And that is exactly what I am like. I'm sinning one minute then the next I'm reading my Bible over cornflakes and playing worship music at a considerably loud volume for that hour in the morning.
The Israelites get three things from God.

1. Plague/Famine- one third of them will die because there isn't enough food to eat or because of disease, it talks about fathers eating their children and rather disturbing things like that,
2. 'scattering'- another one third will be 'scatter to every wind.' the people would be homeless and probably beggars; forced to live without a place to call their own
3. The sword -the last one third will die by 'the sword around you.' Invaders and conquerors would kill of plenty of people ...wars do that.

I felt God telling me there will be consequences for my sin. I know there's always consequences for my sin, so I don't know what is going to happen... I'm fairly certain that no invading nation is going to divide and conquer my living room but...

I'm not sure what to say from here... I think I've said all I wanted to , perhaps to much.

I was rereading further along to see if there was anything there I could write about and found something that makes this seem less dreary and depressing and doomsday saying... Verse thirteen God says that His anger will be spent and that 'they will know that I the Lord have spoken..."

until 'The Project' gets more fixing up...

-luKe