Little Chats With God

Posts Tagged ‘moral depravity’

‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned: they did not help the poor and needy.’ Ezekiel 16:49Ezekiel 16:49
English: World English Bible - WEB
49 Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

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You know, Lord, I always thought that the sin of Sodom was moral depravity. Certainly there was plenty of that going on, as Your Word makes abundantly clear. But it really blew me out when I read this verse. Here You are saying that there was something else that You hated about Sodom, something even worse than the moral depravity, something You considered so bad that You describe it, rather than the other, as ‘the’ sin of Sodom.

What’s worse, Lord, what You call the sin of Sodom seems to me to be a pretty good description of much of our society – and even much of the church – today. In fact, as I look around at the conservative churches and the conservative political parties – the ones who make the most noise about the decaying morals in our society – it seems that they are the very ones who are most overfed and unconcerned, and least moved by the needs of the weakest members of society.

Why has there come such a dichotomy, Lord? Surely it is possible to have both high moral standards and a concern for the needs of the poor? Why have Your people abdicated ‘welfare’ to the left-wingers and radicals?

As I read through Your Word, it certainly seems that You had a special concern for the needy. You made provision for them to be able to gather food by gleaning after the harvest, and You made it clear that they were not to be ripped off by exorbitant interest charges. And here in this verse You suggest that You see a lack of concern for the poor as being worse than the worst form of moral depravity.

So how do you see the Church today, Lord? Are we, in Your eyes, even worse than Sodom? Do we need to repent and re-evaluate our priorities? More to the point, Lord, do I?