Ezekiel chapter 37 starts with a fascinating vision! This vision of the valley of dry bones is an allusion to the exiled Israelites. As God brings life and breath into the bones, he will do the same for the exiles, and bring them back to their home land. In a sense, bring them back to life!
Verse 14 sums up the purpose of this vision nicely - "I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I am the LORD." Again, we hear the words, as we have so often in Ezekiel - "then you will know that I am the Lord." Today in our lives, do we know that the Lord is the Lord? (please forgive this picture below... when I saw it I couldn't help posting it up... sometimes you just have to put all kinds of different facts & info out there for people who pull into your parking lot. :)
Verses 15-23 are great - discussing the reunification of the two kingdoms of Israel since the time of Solomon. Israel will become one kingdom again. And verses 24 through 28 point toward the coming Messiah, Jesus. Verse 26 stands out - "And I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant." Have you entered into this covenant of peace with God? The everlasting covenant? Have you opened the door to Jesus in your heart? Do you hear him knocking? Maybe late at night, do you hear Jesus knocking? Offering you an everlasting covenant of peace? Will you open the door of your heart?
Ezekiel chapter 38 is very interesting, with a prophesy against Gog of the land of Magog. It will help you to know that Gog is mentioned in Revelation chapter 20 verses 7 & 8 as follows - "When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth--Gog and Magog--to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore." This can help give some context for this chapter. This may be an end-times type of prophecy from Ezekiel. Verse 22 tells us - "I will punish you and your hordes with disease and bloodshed; I will send torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and burning sulfur!" And, again, we close this chapter with some familiar powerful words from God - "Thus will I show my greatness and holiness, and I will make myself known to all the nations of the world. Then they will know that I am the LORD!"
Ezekiel chapter 39 continues the destruction of Gog! See yesterday's posting below for more details on who and what Gog may be. Verse 25 stands out to me in today's readings: "So now the Sovereign LORD says: I will end the captivity of my people; I will have mercy on Israel, for I am jealous for my holy reputation!" We see that the exile is coming near to an end. Ezekiel and Jeremiah have been two pretty heavy books with prophecies against Israel. This chapter continues to show the redemption and return of the exiles from Babylon to Israel is soon coming. It is interesting that God is jealous for his holy reputation in the verse above... are we ourselves also jealous for God's holy reputation? Should we be?
Worship God: Ezekiel 39:25 reminded me of the fantastic song "Blessed Be Your Name" by Matt Redman! Here's the Newsboys performing a great live version of this song:
Ezekiel chapter 34 reminds me a lot of the famous and beautiful Psalm 23 - "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want... " However, before we get to God being the Good Shepherd - and hear about the Good Shepherd to come - there is some rebuking of the "shepherds" of Israel at that time, that may also have a message for us. In verses 3 & 4 we read: “You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured.” Could this verse speak into our lives in some way? Is it possible that we eat fine food and wear fine clothes at the expense of others in need? Are we consistently strengthening the weak? Healing the sick? Binding up the injured? 1.2 billion people in the world live on less than $1 a day. Are you doing something to care for these brothers and sisters on a consistent basis? What are you doing?
Ezekiel chapter 36 is an awesome chapter looking at the restoration of Israel, post-exile. I like that there are prophecies to the mountain and hills and valleys in this chapter! Great verses. Verses 8 & 9 stood out to me - "But the mountains of Israel will produce heavy crops of fruit to prepare for my people's return--and they will be coming home again soon! See, I am concerned for you, and I will come to help you. Your ground will be tilled and your crops planted." I like that God is concerned for the mountains and he wants them to be fruitful. If He is concerned for the mountains, think how much more He is concerned for each of our lives... Think He wants our lives to be fruitful as well?
Verse 22 shows God's grace - "I am bringing you back again but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name." The first sentence shows grace in that God is bringing them back, even though they are undeserving. The second sentence you might not initially see the grace in it - but, God is protecting his holy name so that ultimately all people's in all nations will come to faith in him - and not idols, which deliver nothing and lead to the grave. If God did not bring the Israelites back and protect his name, the rest of the world would see no reason to turn from their idols.
Verses 26 & 27 sound very New Testament / new covenant - "And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command." Do you have a new heart? With new and right desires? Do you have a new Spirit in you?
Worship God: Ezekiel 34:4 today reminded me of this great video below of the African Children's Choir singing "Walking in the Light!"
The three Jeremiah chapters today are quite eventful! It is intriguing that the Israelites ask Jeremiah for a message from God - and that whatever they hear back they will do and obey. But then they don't obey! Are we like this at times... ? We promise promise promise God that we'll listen & change... but then do we? If you are going through struggles in your life today will you call out to God? Do you trust that He will answer in His own unique and perfect way and timing? And then will you trust and obey?
Jeremiah chapter 42 gives a good overview of the day's readings, with these closing 2 verses in this chapter from Jeremiah: "And today I have told you exactly what he said, but you will not obey the LORD your God any better now than you have in the past. So you can be sure that you will die from war, famine, and disease in Egypt, where you insist on going." Jeremiah delivered the message from God... but knew that the message would go unheeded.
Chapter 43 reminds me that when we are disobedient to God's will that our disobedience can affect not only ourselves, but others around us too. Mind you, Egypt was not a "house of the holy" - but the Israelites disobedience is going to bring destruction to themselves and Egypt. They're carrying their disobedience and curse on to others. Jeremiah 43's verses 9 & 10 stood out: ""While the people of Judah are watching, bury large rocks between the pavement stones at the entrance of Pharaoh's palace here in Tahpanhes.I will surely bring my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, here to Egypt." Interesting that God calls Nebuchadnezzar his "servant". Would God have said this about the Israelites at this time? Called them his servants?
Chapter 44 is a great reminder of why it's a bad idea to pursue idols in our life instead of God! Verse 7 asks "Why are you destroying yourselves?" I love this verse. Why are we destroying ourselves? We bring upon self-abuse, self-destruction, when we pursue things that are not of God. Think about it. They may bring a quick temporary pleasure, but in the long run are they building us up or destroying us? Why are we destroying ourselves?
Jeremiah 44:28 stood out to me in today's readings: ""Only a small number will escape death and return to Judah from Egypt." This verse reminds me that God is continuing to preserve the line - the house of David. God will destroy most of the Israelites in Egypt for their unfaithfulness & idol worship, but he will preserve a remnant! We see this over and over in the Bible - even Noah & the flood comes to mind, pre-David of course. Verses 29 and 30 in this chapter continues: "And this is the proof I give you, says the LORD, that all I have threatened will happen to you and that I will punish you here: I will turn Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, over to his enemies who want to kill him, just as I turned King Zedekiah of Judah over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I, the LORD, have spoken!" Based on these verses, below is an image of Pharaoh-Hophra taken prisoner in the war with Amasis:
Worship God: Today's readings remind me of Jeremy Camp's song "Not Ashamed:"
Old Testament - Lamentations Chapters 4 in yesterday's readings and chapter 5 in today's are tough chapters to read. We know why everything that we read in these chapters has come to pass from our readings in the book of Jeremiah. I guess the thing personally that jumped out at me today when reading this chapter were these thoughts: Have I personally ever experienced anything like what we read about in this chapter? The answer is no. The second thought or question that came to me, however, was this: Are there people in our world today that are experiencing similar things that we read about in this chapter? And I believe the answer is obviously yes. Not for the same "reasons" that Jerusalem was experiencing all of this of course - but the same experiences of starvation and lack of hope are indeed happening in our world today.
Then.... the question becomes - is this fair? Is this right? Should we try to do something for people in our world that are experiencing starvation, lack of hope, and worse? What will we do? I know there are thousands of organizations that we could support to help those in need in our world. One that I have personal experience with is World Vision. If you have an extra dollar a day, you can sponsor a child and radically change that child's life - forever. Or, even if you have an extra dollar a month, World Vision can do incredible things with that dollar. If anyone wants to post up other good relief orgs in the Comments sections, please do? I'd love to hear about which international relief organization you invest in. Thanks.
Actually, since I started down the path of mentioning World Vision, let me go off a bit more on my tangent here if you don't mind... :) I don't know about you, but I have had a hard time buying gifts that are simply "more stuff" for my friends and family in recent years. Don't get me wrong. I think there are wonderful hand-made gifts or books or music or even some stuff that is just the perfect gift for someone in our life. But, more often than not - if I'm going to a wedding, holiday party, birthday for kids, housewarming party - I feel like I'm just buying more "stuff" for my friends and family who have plenty of "stuff"! And so, I just want to share with you what I do now for weddings and birthdays and holidays: I may get a small personal gift for folks, but more likely I'll get them a goat! Yep, you read that right. A goat. The thing about this goat is that my friends and family won't actually have this goat walking around their house - and I'm sure they appreciate that. This goat actually goes to a family in our world that is living on less than $1 a day. This goat will provide milk and cheese for this family's personal use and for sale in the market. This goat might even allow the family to breed more goats and start up an entrepreneurial business so that this family can get self-sufficient. So... I'll be 100% honest with you here - my friends love receiving this type of goat!! They really do. With the holiday season coming up - and with weddings and birthdays and the list can go on - will you consider buying a goat for your family & friends instead of buying them more "stuff"? World Vision is one organization where you can buy these types of goats as gifts - but I'm sure there are more. World Vision actually recently unveiled their holiday gift catalog online at this link! At this link you can peruse their catalog of more than 100 gift items for families world-wide living on less than $1 a day. You can buy goats, fruit trees, wells for clean water, clothing, sheep, chickens, and the list goes on. During this holiday season, will you consider buying life-changing and life-saving gifts for others in our world this holiday season rather than just buying more "stuff"? (Thanks for reading all this... I know I've gone way off from the Bible readings today... or have I?)
Today we start and finish the book of Obadiah - the shortest book in the Old Testament! Obadiah was a prophet from Judah, who prophesied against Edom, Israel's neighbor to the southeast of Jerusalem & the Salt Sea. Edom was a descendent of Esau - and Israel a descendent of Jacob. Esau & Jacob were the twin sons of Isaac and fought during their lifetimes, and the fighting of the nations of Israel & Edom continued throughout the Old Testament. A quick flashback of Jacob & Esau is here from Genesis 25:23 - "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." Below is clear map of where Edom was located - in modern day Jordan - in relationship to Israel:
Quick tangent - This map above, which shows the ancient city of Petra reminds me of an amazing book I read last year. It's called "Walking the Bible: A journey by land through the Five Books of Moses" by Bruce Feiler. Has anyone read this book by chance? I had a good friend give it to me several years ago, and I avoided reading it because it looked kind of long and boring... :) But it's not! It's fantastic. I cannot believe I waited years to read it. In the book Bruce writes about his journey across the land that he takes from Mt. Ararat in Turkey, where Noah's Ark was thought to have landed, through Abraham's journey in the fertile crescent to Canaan, to the Israelites going to Egypt, through the Exodus, the Sinai, the Negev, and the finally to Petra and Edom and to the edge of the Promised Land. It is an amazing modern day retracing the steps of the patriarchs! I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's a nonfiction book. And not really religious per se - though it's all about the Bible, so in my mind it was. This is a great read!
Back to Obadiah - There is some uncertainty over when Obadiah prophesied. It was either approximately 853-841 B.C. when Edom rebelled against Judah during the reign of Jehoram - in which case Obadiah would be a contemporary of Elisha. Or, more likely, it was approx 605-586 B.C. when Babylon was attacking Jerusalem - in which case Obadiah would be a contemporary of Jeremiah. A good overview of the book of Obadiah is at this link. Verse 11 today tells us this about the reasons for Edom's punishment - "For you deserted your relatives in Israel during their time of greatest need. You stood aloof, refusing to lift a finger to help when foreign invaders carried off their wealth and cast lots to divide up Jerusalem. You acted as though you were one of Israel's enemies."
Verse 15 stood out to me in Obadiah today: "As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you." This is a good reminder to do unto others, as we would have done unto us... Or, what goes around, comes around? :) God was upset that Edom sat around and did nothing while their neighbor Israel was attacked. They could have done something, but did nothing. In our world today are our neighbors are being attacked - or hurt - or starving - or dying of AIDS? If so, should we be doing something about it? Should we be like the Good Samaritan, caring for our neighbor? Who is your neighbor?
Jeremiah chapter 40 continues with Gedaliah being appointed governor of Judah by Babylon. Gedaliah seems to be a good sort, as he invites the people living in the country side to: "Settle in any town you wish, and live off the land. Harvest the grapes and summer fruits and olives, and store them away." (v. 10). However, things don't go well too long for Gedaliah, which is sad... Ishmael enters the scene in chapter 40 and into chapter 41, and ultimately murders Gedaliah. This definitely made me sad! Things seemed to be getting a bit peaceful in Judah, and prosperous to a degree. And then evil enters the scene once again... How many times have we seen this scenario play out over history? Below is an image of Ishmael's treachery to the remnant of Judah in 41:6 -
Worship God: Our Obadiah readings today reminded me of the Delirious song "Majesty." I had the good fortune to worship to this song with Delirious a few years back just before it was released. They were playing some of their "new stuff" and this was a great song to worship to live! You'll notice the crowd in this video is definitely worshiping.
Perhaps Lamentations chapter 2, verses 18 & 19, give us a hint at what we should do if we realize we've hit a rock bottom place in our lives due to unchecked sin - "Cry aloud before the Lord, O walls of Jerusalem! Let your tears flow like a river. Give yourselves no rest from weeping day or night. Rise during the night and cry out. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord. Lift up your hands to him in prayer." If you are at that place of rock bottom, or nearing it, will you cry to the Lord? Will you pour out your heart to the Lord letting him know that you need him - that you cannot do life without him? Will you pray?
Lamentations Chapter 3 today starts out quite sad and empty in verses 1-20. Of course, the reason for this sadness and emptiness in these opening verses is God's discipline toward the people of Jerusalem at this time. They had sinned greatly and thus this discipline had come upon them. I think the thing for us to remember in seasons like this in our lives is that it is typically only a season. This too shall pass - if we repent & learn & grow and return to the Lord. Indeed, we see the transition in chapter 21: "Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this..." I love this! "I still dare to hope" - even in the midst of so much sadness & emptiness. In the midst of our tough seasons in life, can we still dare to hope? Why should we still dare to hope? Will you still dare to hope?
Verses 22 to 66 in today's readings are just phenomenal. I could write on and on about probably each of these verses. There is so much here for us. I'd encourage you to read these verses at least twice and meditate on them and how they might apply to your life today. I'll jump through a couple of verses here that stood out to me. Verse 23 - "Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day." Do you experience God's mercies afresh each day? Do you believe that you can?
Verse 25 - "The LORD is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him." If you are not experiencing God now, will you wait for him? Will you seek him? (this reminds me of Jeremy Camp's tune on his worship album - "I'll wait for the Lord. My soul waits". Great tune and great reminder that we sometimes need to wait on the Lord).
Worship God: Lamentations 3:23 obviously reminded me of the wonderful worship song "Great is Thy Faithfulness." I couldn't quite find a good version of this on song on YouTube. However, I found a wonderful song called "Great is Your Mercy" with Donnie McClurkin and several other singers. This video is actually 10 minutes and 30 seconds long! But trust me, it is worth the time! Enjoy!
Today we begin the book of Lamentations! Lamentations is a short 5 chapter book. It's essentially a post-script to the book of Jeremiah, and was likely written by the prophet Jeremiah. It is a book that surveys and laments Jerusalem and the Temple after the destruction of both by the Babylonians in about 586 B.C. A wonderful commentary on the book of Lamentations by Donald Curtis titled “The Fall of Jerusalem” is at this link - surf about 2/3rds the way down this page to get a good chapter by chapter overview of Lamentations - and to dive into info on the acrostics, etc.
~ Lamentations ~ Author: Jeremiah Date: Sixth century B.C. Content: The book of Lamentations is a funeral song, written for the fallen city of Jerusalem. It was composed by Jeremiah, who was an eye-witness of all he describes in such vivid detail. He shows the destruction in all its horror so that it could never again be asked, “Why did no one ever tell us the awful price we would have to pay for disobeying God?” There is very little of comfort, but Jeremiah’s prayer in chapter 5 does look beyond the desolate ashes of the once glorious Jerusalem to God whose throne endures forever. Only there can Jeremiah find any solace. Theme: Lamentations is a declaration of the wrath of God. It portrays the bitter truth that God had promised judgment upon sin, and Judah had been foolish enough to put God to the test. Bad as that was, the deeper tragedy was that it did not have to be. God’s faithfulness is great, being renewed every morning, and his compassion never fails. Had Judah only obeyed, it all could have been avoided. The warning and the promise found in this book should be emblazoned in the skies for all to see. (Above commentary is from Tyndale Publishers “The One Year Bible Companion” pp. 13-14) Below is an engraving by Gustaf Dore of these Lamentations of Jeremiah...
Lamentations chapter 1 verse 1 sets the tone & stage for this book - "Jerusalem's streets, once bustling with people, are now silent. Like a widow broken with grief, she sits alone in her mourning. Once the queen of nations, she is now a slave." Why is this so? Well, we just read the book of the prophet Jeremiah, so we know why... One thing to keep in mind when reading Lamentations - it provides a glimpse at the devastating affects of unchecked & unrepentant sin. Per this verse above, do you think our sin change our position in life from being a "queen" to a "slave"?
I think it is important to realize that God did provide so much grace and compassion toward Jerusalem and Judah in the book of Jeremiah before everything got to the devastating point that it is in the book of Lamentations. God sent the prophet Jeremiah to warn Judah over and over and over again.... However, there was no repentance of sin and things got worse and worse - until it got to the point that God had no choice but to discipline Judah through Babylon's taking Judah captive. We do need to know that unrepentant, unsorrowful, unchecked sin in our lives can lead to horrifically sorrowful things happening in our lives. And perhaps, by us hitting a rock bottom, like Jerusalem clearly is here in Lamentations, there will be an opportunity for discipline and ultimate redemption...
Today in Lamentations 1:14 we read: "My sins have been bound into a yoke; by his hands they were woven together. They have come upon my neck and the Lord has sapped my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand.” Do you believe that sin can become a “yoke” around your neck? Can sin sap your strength? Can sin hand you over to those you cannot withstand? How can you be freed from this yoke of sin? Perhaps these words from Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30 will give us some ideas - “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” If there is a yoke of sin around your neck, will you allow Jesus to remove that yoke? Will you exchange the yoke of sin for the yoke of rest that Christ offers you today?
Worship God: Today's readings in Jeremiah 40 reminded me of The After's wonderful song called "Light Up the Sky." Here's a great live version of this song:
Ezekiel Chapter 27 indicates that Tyre was certainly good at business and trading! This was in large part due to Tyre's prime real estate location, which you can see in the two maps below:
However chapter 28 tells us that there was also a lot of pride associated with these business skills & wealth. Verse 5 tells us: "Yes, your wisdom has made you very rich, and your riches have made you very proud." This verse definitely stands out to me. How often in our lives does something in our lives make us proud? Verse 2 in this chapter says this: "In your great pride you claim, `I am a god!" If we get prideful enough, might we even consider ourselves a god?? Do you hear others in our culture today telling us that we are gods? Good idea or bad idea here....?
Verse 11-19 in this chapter are very interesting. It is tough to discern if these verses about the king of Tyre or Satan or both? Commentators hedge on these verses. Perhaps, indeed, when we let pride get the best of us and think we are a god then we risk interweaving our life story with Satan's? I don't know. Scary stuff to think about though - jump down to the Psalm 111 verses for a good antidote to all this pride stuff...
YouTube: Today's readings about Tyre's pride reminded me of the great need for humility in our lives. And this call to humility reminded me of a Pastor's recent confession on his need for humility in this YouTube clip below. This is Pastor Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
Jeremiah Chapter 32 is intriguing. God asks Jeremiah to buy land - even though all of the land of Jerusalem will soon fall under captivity. Jeremiah is - once again - obedient. God goes on in this chapter to indeed confirm that Jerusalem will fall - but that God will eventually restore the Israelites back to Jerusalem and buying and selling of land will occur again. Interesting chapter. The call to Jeremiah to buy land was to set the stage for reminding the Israelites that they will soon lose this ability, but it will come back to them again eventually. I like this example. What about you in your life today - is there anything God is asking you to be obedient in? Even if you perhaps won't see an "immediate" return on your investment of your obedience, will you obey God? Is the eternal return on your investment of obedience worth it? Below is an image of Jeremiah in the court of the prison buying his kinsman's field from today's readings:
Today in our readings we get the famous Jeremiah 33:3 verse: "'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'" (NIV) Verses 15 & 16 are powerful Messianic verses, harkening back to Jeremiah 23:6 (The Lord Our Righteousness): "In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness."
Verse 22 is a great verse echoing the covenant promises to Abraham: "I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore."
Verse 18 threw me for a loop initially, trying to figure out how this could still be - "nor will the priests, who are Levites, ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.'" I wondered - where are the Levites today? Fortunately, I read a commentary that set me straight - Jesus is fulfilling this ministry for us today! Jesus is our Levitical priest standing before God continually. Beautiful, eh? Do you consider Jesus to be your High Priest?
Worship God: Jeremiah 33:3 in today's readings reminded me of the Third Day song "Call My Name:"
An important note from our readings in Ezekiel chapter 24 today is that Ezekiel's wife dies on the exact same day the Temple is Jerusalem was burned! August 14, 586 B.C. As I read these verses about Ezekiel's wife and the Temple I am reminded of a verse in the book of Job - 13:15- "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him." Though Ezekiel's wife dies and though the Temple burned, the Lord still instructs Judah in verse 23: "You will not mourn or weep". The Job situation is of course different in that Job was righteous and Judah was not at this time. And there is not clear hope for Judah at this time - though there ultimately is redemption for Jerusalem. However, again, look at Job's faith in the midst of all he was going through: "yet I will hope in him." When times are bad - or times are good - do you hope in Him? No matter what, will you hope in Him?
In Ezekiel chapter 25 today we begin reading God's oracles against the nations surrounding Israel. We'll read 7 oracles over the next few days through chapter 32. It's noteworthy that frequently in the Old Testament God's words of judgment against Israel through the prophets is often accompanied by oracles of judgments against the nations. Below is a map that shows the oracles against the nations we read about in chapters 25 & 26 today and through chapter 32 in the coming days. This map is helpful to see where Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon and of course Egypt are all located in comparison to Jerusalem:
Jeremiah chapter 34 is interesting with the freedom for the slaves - and then the reversal of that decision. Could this story remind us of our lives at times? Do we sometimes promise God that we'll do something he wants us to do? Maybe even start to do it? And then change our minds? Why are we not consistent with what we tell God we will do? Let us pray for consistency in our spiritual walk!
In Jeremiah 21 we're getting close to the point of the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. as King Nebuchadnezzar and the armies of Babylon are getting close. The prophecies Jeremiah has been preaching in the past 20 chapters are coming to fruition. A verse that encapsulates all of this is 21:10 - "For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the Lord. It will be captured by the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.'" Do remember that in our readings over the past few days that God does intend to bring the Israelites back to Jerusalem eventually. There is hope! Even though Nebuchadnezzar (pictured below) is soon to come into Jerusalem... there is still hope in the midst of the despair... there is still redemption to come...
Verse 7 in chapter 29 of Ezekiel stands out as to why God is unhappy with Egypt (in part - idols are another reason...) - "Israel leaned on you, but like a cracked staff, you splintered and stabbed her in the armpit. When she put her weight on you, you gave way, and her back was thrown out of joint." God was not happy that Israel created an alliance with Egypt as we read earlier in Ezekiel - but at the same time, God was not happy with Egypt for bailing on the alliance when Babylon attacked Jerusalem. Think God likes for us to keep our promises in our life? Do you keep your promises in your life? Are you careful to never make empty promises?
I think Ezekiel chapter 31 starts out with a trick question from God to Egypt in verse 2: "Son of man, give this message to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all his people: "To whom would you compare your greatness?"" The proper answer to this question is probably somewhere along the humble lines of, "no one - I am not great at all. I wouldn't dare compare myself to others. Everything I am and have comes from you God." Think Pharaoh would answer the question in this humble way? :) Better yet - maybe we should ask ourselves this question today as well. And think about how we would answer it. What if someone stops you on the street tomorrow and asks you this question. What would be your reply? Here it is. I ask this of you now: "To whom would you compare your greatness?"
Worship God: Our readings today reminded me of the Newsboys song "He Reigns:"
Once again in verse 30 of chapter 22 of Ezekiel we see God's compassion and God seeking an opportunity to stop the coming judgment: "I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one." No one was found... This verse makes me think about this - sometimes I think we tell ourselves, "What difference does it make? What difference does it make if I'm good or bad? What difference does it make if I serve and love others in need?" Check out verse 30 above again. Think one person could have made a difference then? What about now? Will you make a difference today? Will you stand in the gap?
Ezekiel chapter 23 is interesting in its use of prostitution and lust as the metaphors for Israel's political alliances with neighboring lands. My thoughts here are that we live in a "sexualized" world in so many ways today - and perhaps things weren't so different back then. Sex is obviously something that was created as a good by God - but can so quickly and easily be twisted into something that is not good. Sex is good in the right context of marriage. Detrimental in the wrong. It seems to me that lust and the selling of sex was as prevalent back in Ezekiel's today as it is in ours. To which we may need to remember well Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 6:18 - "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body." And of course James 4:7 - "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Is there an area of our lives related to sex that you must flee from? Will you flee?
Worship God: Today's reading in Ezekiel reminded me of Israel Houghton's song "Friend of God" and that it seemed like only Ezekiel could sing this song during these days... Let us pray we are friends with God today!
