Judgment

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 20:1-32 (day three)
“Will you judge them, son of man?”  Judgment is a moral obligation; condemnation is a power trip.  Our attempts to condemn are attempts to set ourselves in God’s place.  But how the world needs wise discerners of good and evil.  Nonetheless, those who judge rightly will be received no more warmly than those who attempt to condemn.  “Men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”  Loving people, though, means telling the truth to them.

Prone to Wander

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 20:1-32 (day two)

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

If reading the account of the people of Israel shows anything it is that we have a penchant to sin, and the God continually shows us grace. No matter how often we are set on a path of blessing and fulfillment, when we get comfortable, we become ungrateful. Our hearts wander from the source of all blessings. There is a just answer to our sin, and that is judgement and death, but God through Jesus has provided for us victory. My prayer today is to not become comfortable in our blessing, but refined by the renewing Grace of God.

Unanswered prayer

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 20:1-32 (day one) 
“Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them. . .’I will not let you inquire of me.’ ” (v 3)  In the seventh year of their exile, a strange and sad moment comes for the leaders of Judah in Babylon.  After much adversity they are ready for spiritual help, only to find that God is unwilling to communicate with them.  So long as the idols of Egypt are still secretly in their homes (see v 7), and so long as they remain resistant to the faithful participation in the covenant sign of Sabbath, He will be fiercely silent.  Most of forget that repentance from sin is part of the faith equation.  “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,  and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”  (Isaiah 59:2)  Why should God face us until we are willing to face ourselves and our sin?

Is it a choice?

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 18:1-18 (day seven)
“Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is right. . .he will surely live. . .  Suppose there is a  violent son who sheds blood . . .he will surely be put to death.”  (v 5,9,10, 13)  One of the great moral debates of this generation centers around same sex attraction and homosexual behavior.  Is it a choice?  “No”, say those who advocate for societal acceptance.  “This is the way God made me”.  The scientific data is still indefinite.  However, one thing is certain.   Even within the variations of our attractions and sexual interest there are very real choices being made.  Do I come to God with my sexuality?  Do I subordinate it to His holy will or does it become an idol?  Do I participate in impurity?  NONE of us can control all circumstances of interior or exterior life.  ALL of us have choices that either lead to freedom or bondage.  In that sense, it is a choice!

Unlearning Old Proverbs

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 18:1-18 (Day 6)
“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?’ As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel.”  (vs. 2-3).  Ezekiel knew it.  When God works in our lives, things change!  What we think.  What we expect.  Even old proverbs (unchallenged and oft quoted statements of truth) are discarded.  “God helps those who help themselves” is a modern example.  Those of us who have experienced God’s grace would never say it.  We are more likely to say, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.”  Just as Ezekiel predicted, encountering God teaches us new truths.  Old proverbs unlearned, check!  New ideas embraced, check!

American Idols

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 18:1-18 (day five)  All the talk of idols seems really outdated and not applicable to 21st Century American Christian Culture.  Right??  Wrong!!  That’s what I was thinking until I began reading a book I just purchased by Kyle Idleman.  He writes, “What if the gods of here and now are not cosmic deities with strange names?  What if they take identities that are so ordinary that we don’t recognize them as ‘gods’ at all?  What if we do our ‘kneeling’ and ‘bowing’ with our imaginations, our cash, our search engines, our calendars?  What if I told you that every sin you are struggling with, every discouragement you are dealing with, even the lack of purpose you’re living with are because of idolatry?”

So, I again have such a respect and hope in reading the scripture.  I also have an opportunity to search my heart and life and look for idols while reflecting on Ezekiel 18.

Active Faith

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 18:1-18 (day four)  Verse 9 says, “if He walks in My statutes and My ordinances so as to deal faithfully-he is righteous and will surely live, declares the Lord God.”  This verse seems to mirror the message found in Habakkuk 2:4“…the righteous will live by his faith.”  When we live by faith, we live in obedience to God’s commands.  Ezekiel has listed a number of things that the righteous man will or will not do.  Faith is a very active state…when we walk by faith, we are not passive and inactive.  Some believe that to walk by faith is blind, thoughtless motion…not so!  Faithfulness is yielding to God’s way of life…putting aside our prideful pursuit of our own will.  In Romans 1:17, Paul introduced this same truth into his own theology…”the righteous man will live by faith.”  The truths of God’s Word never change…it is still true today!

Inner honesty

RE Verse reading–Ezekiel 20:1-32 (day six)  “As surely as I live, I will not let you inquire of me.”  (v 2)  When the elders of Judah got a “no comment” response from God, it must have been a shock.  Isn’t God supposed to “let bygones be bygones”?  Isn’t He supposed to be available whenever we are ready to talk?  Yes, but the condition for such a conversation is inner honesty.  What God is not willing to do is have a conversation with people who avoid the long issues that impact the relationship.  Idolatry, a pattern of disobedience, disregard for the Sabbath, address these issues and the heart of God will open in mercy.  Pretend they don’t matter and hear Heaven’s silence.  “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom”–Psalm 51:6.  Facing  the truth about ourselves is always the hardest task.  We all avoid it, but God requires it. “Come, let us reason. . .”

Responsibility

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 18 (Day Three) 
“I will judge each of you according to your own ways.”  If that is so, are we off the hook for the kind of society we live in?  Does the prophet’s declaration of the Lord’s word in fact create a public/private divide so that as long as I remain pure in my behavior, I bear no responsibility addressing what goes on around me?  The Pharisees thought so.  In truth, though, Ezekiel’s words do nothing of the sort.  Because we are responsible for our own sin, the question is not, “Why did my ancestors get us here?”  Rather, the question becomes: “What am I going to do about the world in which I live?”

Standing On Our Own

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 18:1-18 (day two)
Each year when I was in the classroom I would meet young people with varying degrees of baggage (spiritual, physical, emotional, etc.). And the more I got to know each of them and their personal stories, I realized much of what they brought to the table was somehow inherited. Like it or not the consequences of our sin will impact our children. It was always disheartening to see the damage parental choices cause their children. But there is another side to that story. I would often see children who were not encumbered by those choices. Young men and women who realized the folly of their parent’s decision and pledged to take a different path. Their journeys were often more difficult than others, but they understood the reward more clearly than anyone else. This is the promise in Ezekiel and thanks be to God that we are no longer condemned by the sins of our parents. God has given each of us a place to stand and choose which path we will take.