“Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”
– Ezekiel 22:26
I just want to point out a couple of the phrases here in Ezekiel 22 as we see this indictment specifically among priests in Israel. In Ezekiel 22:1, they profaned God’s name, which is the opposite of honoring God’s name. They had disgraced and defamed the name of God. It just makes me think, God, is there any way I am, is there any way you are, disgracing the name of God, defaming the name of God, profaning the name of God?
Then there’s similar language in the very beginning of the verse that I just read. “Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things.” Basically, they have treated that which is holy as common. They have been casual, at the very least, with that which is holy.
Ezekiel 22:26 Helps Us Remember God’s Holiness
I just think in my own life, maybe in your life, how tempting it can be to treat sin casually. “It was just a fleeting thought. It was just a fleeting word. It’s not a big deal. It was a small sin.” We move on, instead of longing for holiness so much that any thought, any word, anything we do that’s not holy, we just are so quick to repent and say, “God, that was not holy. God, please forgive me. God, help me to live in holiness.”
Let’s pray that God, just as Jesus taught us to pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name in each of our lives. God, we pray that you would help us to honor your name today when nobody is looking, with our every thought, with our desires. God, when others are watching our lives, help us to honor your name. Help us to live as salt and light, that people may see our lives and give glory to your name. We pray that you would keep us from profaning your name in any way.
Ezekiel 22:26 Leads Us to Pray for God’s Help to Be Holy
God, we pray that you would make us holy as you are holy. God, help us to hate sin more today than we did yesterday. Help us not to be casual with sin in any way. God, make our thoughts, our desires, our words, our actions, our everything, holy, completely pleasing to you and honoring to you.
Hallowed be your name in our lives. Hallowed would be your name in our families. And hallowed would be your name in our churches. Cause your name to be made known as holy where we live in our cities. Spread the greatness of your name through us today where we live, and spread the greatness of your name among the nations, we pray.
Praying for the Unreached in Nigeria
We pray for the Wodaabe Fulani of Niger, this Muslim people group 100,000 strong, knowing there are few believers among them. God, we pray you’d bless those few believers and cause the Gospel to spread through them. Cause your name to be known as good and gracious and holy and loving and saving among this people group.
God, we pray for the Wodaabe. God, we pray for the Wodaabe Fulani and for every people group in the world. Cause your name to be hollowed among all of them in all the earth. We pray according to your Word in Ezekiel 22:26, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
