I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the LORD … when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord GOD. Ezekiel is writing from exile — the nation is thrown down, the walls of Jerusalem are destroyed, the temple is razed. How easy it would have been for the people to imagine that God had abandoned them. The prophet gives them hope and consolation. God isn’t finished with them. God will pardon their offenses which led to this catastrophe. God will renew them as the Chosen People. His vision led, in time, to the formation of the Jewish people, not dependent on nation or temple to be the People of God. When we have some great trouble or difficulty we too can feel separated from God. We must remember that God’s plan is still at work in our lives. It won’t go the way we would have liked or preferred but God can make a way out of no way.
