Can God do this?

As we read the Scriptures, we miss things. There are multiple reasons why this happens. So, I want to take a moment to point out a jaw-dropping text from Ezekiel. I would encourage you to read the surrounding context so that the full meaning of the text lands on you. Here is only a brief excerpt from the text:

Therefore say to the to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn your faces from all your abominations. For any one of the house of Israel, or the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the Lord will answer him myself. And I will set my face against that man; I will cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord. And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear their punishment–the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the iniquirer shall be alike–that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves anymore with all their trangressions, but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God. (Ezekiel 14:6-11)

I guess you can understand the question in the title. You be the judge. The humbling truth of this is God’s relentless pursuit of His people. Be encouraged brothers.