Judgments of the Lord

From Ezekiel 18:23 to the end of the chapter is an interesting kind of dialog between the House of Israel and the Lord.  The House of Israel say that the “way of the Lord is not equal.”  Their reasoning is that if a man is righteous for part of his life and then turns wicked, “for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.”  But if a man that is wicked for part of his life turns righteous, “he shall save his soul alive.”  The House of Israel seems to be suggesting that these two cases should be treated equally: both have been righteous part of their lives and wicked part of their lives.  Why does the latter get better treatment?  The Lord’s response is this: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways…. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”  The Lord seems to be telling them: “Forget about it—just repent!”  The Lord will be the judge and our job is simply to worry about our own transgressions.  This reminds me of the words of Alma to Corianton who likewise had trouble understanding the justice of God: “Ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance” (Alma 42:29).  The Judgment for others is not something that we have to worry about, and we can have faith that God will be perfectly just.  We simply need to worry about repenting of our own sins and becoming the kind of person that we need to become.