Ezekiel 24:16

Chapter 24 of Ezekiel is pretty hard hitting, in that Ezekiel loses his wife in it, and is disallowed to mourn by God.

‘Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down.’ (Ezekiel 24:16)

That night, Ezekiel’s wife dies. It is meant as a picture of Israel, who are going to lose the ‘desire of their eyes’ – the sanctuary of God, and they will not mourn it. It makes me think – what is the ‘desire of my eyes’? Because I will lose it. Only God, the desire of my heart, will I not lose. All that is for our temporary pleasure is just that – temporary. Let’s not make the mistake that Israel made – letting the desire of our eyes get confused with what should be the desire of our heart. The temple was their desire – but it was the desire of their eyes, that is, they were proud of it because of who it made them, rather than loving it because God lived there.