Monthly Archives: August 2020

A Sign (Ezekiel 12)

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The heading my NIV has given chapter 12 is “The Exile Symbolized.” God told Ezekiel to pack a travel bag during the daytime, and in front of the people, as though he was packing for exile. In the evening, again in front of the people, he was to dig a hole in the city wall with his bare hands, then take his travel bag and crawl through the hole to the other side.

Next, he was to strap his travel bag over his shoulder at dusk, and put a blindfold on so he couldn’t see. When asked by the people what he was doing, he was to answer, “I am a sign to you.”

The object lesson was not done. God told Ezekiel to “tremble” as he ate, to “shudder in fear” as he drank water, and warn the people they were going to live in fear and anxiety. “Then,” he said speaking God’s words, “you will know that I am the Lord.” (vs20b)

Makes me wonder what kind of “sign” I am to the people around me. The people watched Ezekiel, and people are watching me. Ezekiel’s actions revealed a God who judges sin, a God who demands obedience and harshly punishes disobedience. Is that the message people get from my life?

Or do they see a God who laughs at sin, a God who is more interested in my bank account and my physical comfort than my spiritual health and eternal soul? Does my life seem to draw a picture of a God who is comfortable on a shelf, or worse, irrelevant, outdated, and invisible? I pray that they recognize a God who is active in my life, directing my life, blessing me and growing me.

God was demonstrating through Ezekiel that there is a limit to His patience, that judgment follows disobedience, and the consequences for rejecting God are serious. I think He wants to demonstrate the same through me. Because if people don’t come to Him through His Son, their consequences are going to be worse than exile in Babylon for a few years.

I not only want people to recognize that God is serious about sin when they observe my life, I want them to see that God is merciful, forgiving, gracious, and good. I want them to see that following God is so much better than navigating this life without Him. I want them to look at me and want what I have in my relationship with Him.

God gave a sign to the Israelites through Ezekiel that warned them about their upcoming exile due to their rejection of God. I pray God will use me as a sign to people to warn them about what lies ahead as a result of their choices, too. But I pray He will give me the privilege of being an object lesson about what “saved by grace” looks like in real time.

May Jesus be seen in me, and may people be drawn to the Savior as a result.

Turn Around (Ezekiel 8)

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I think every time I read Ezekiel’s vision I gasp when the people turn their backs on the Temple and bow toward their pretend gods in the east. That picture of blatant rejection of God shocks me every time.

Yet, even with this defiant act of disobedience, these were still citizens of God’s chosen people, Jews, Israelites. They considered themselves God’s favored nation even when they worshiped other gods. It blows my mind.

Today, however, God is asking me to do a gut check. Here are some questions I feel Him ask of me today:

Do I call myself a Christian, but refuse to repent of a sin?

Do I attend church on Sunday, yet live a lifestyle no different than my neighbor who has no use for church?

Do I read my Bible out of duty instead of letting it change me?

Do I read my Bible at all?

Do I live my life focused on myself, my feelings, my needs, my rights, my dreams, yet tell people I follow Jesus?

Do I know what is right according to Scripture, yet compromise the Truth?

Do I go to church expecting an experience, or do I go humbly, trembling at the seriousness of approaching a Holy God as He demands?

Oh, there are a lot of ways I can turn my back on the temple, so to speak. And I should be as appalled with myself as I am with those twenty-five people in Ezekiel 8 when I do. Today I am asking God to reveal any shift, no matter how small, from my worshiping Him in total Truth. I don’t want any part of me turning away from Him.

In fact, if God reveals the slightest movement, I want Him to convict me. I want to be sensitive to Him, and obedient. If I am facing the wrong way, I want to turn around and bow down to the one and only God according to Scripture.

Where are you facing right now? Is it time you turned around?

God Has Our Backs (Ezekiel 1-4)

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Ezekiel had a call on his life. God wanted him to speak Truth in a time when the Israelites had rejected the Truth. I believe we, as people who know the God of Truth, have the same calling on our lives. Here is what encouraged me today:

2:1-2 He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.” As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.” (emphasis mine)

God didn’t tell Ezekiel to get up, then sit back and watch Ezekiel struggle to stand. God gave him an order, then enabled Ezekiel to obey. Then when Ezekiel was on his feet, he was able to hear God speak. God was in this with Ezekiel, not an observer but an active participant in the calling on Ezekiel’s life.

3:1-2 Again he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.” (emphasis mine)

Again God gives an order, then gives Ezekiel what he needs to obey the order. Ezekiel didn’t have to go searching for the scroll. He didn’t have to write his own scroll. God gave the scroll to Ezekiel.

After Ezekiel had ingested the scroll God told him to go to the Israelites and “speak my words to them.” I am reminded that God has given us His Words in the pages of Scripture and tells us to do the same: Speak God’s Words to our world. But first we must ingest His Words just like Ezekiel did. How much time do we spend in God’s Word every day? Have we devoured it, tasted it, ingested it so that it becomes a part of us? God has given us His Word, like he gave Ezekiel the scroll, and with it the command to tell others what His Word says.

Yes, Ezekiel was commanded to go to people and tell them about God. But never forget God gave Ezekiel the words.

3:10-12,14 And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.” Then the Spirit lifted me up…The Spirit then lifted me up and took me way…” (emphasis mine)

Once Ezekiel had ingested the Words of God, God told Him to take it to his countryman and tell them the words Ezekiel had taken to heart, the words of God. But again, Ezekiel didn’t have to find his own way. God lifted him up and took him to the exact spot where the exiles lived.

We are called to go and make disciples, to be a light in the darkness, to speak Truth, to be prepared to give an answer for our hope in the Lord. But it is getting increasingly difficult to do.

We know people are being attacked verbally and physically, some are dying for offending someone, or disagreeing with someone, or speaking Truth when the lies are becoming accepted as truth.

But Ezekiel’s experience encourages me. I only need to be obedient. God will take it from there. He will give me the words to speak, open doors and put me in the middle of people who need Him. He will raise me up and be everything He needs me to be in order to be obedient.

I am reminded of Isaiah 30:21 which says:

Whether you go to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

That voice behind you is God. He’s got your back.

We have a calling. It’s not a popular calling. Our message might be rejected. But take heart, dear one. If we obey what God commands, He will raise us up, give us the words, and show us the way.

Be encouraged today.

Is God the Enemy? (Lamentations 1:1-3:36)

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What had been beautiful and blessed now stood in ruins. The people who had been protected by God were now in captivity. Those who had been respected were suddenly targets of scorn. How did things get so bad for the Old Testament Israelites? Listen to what the writer of Lamentations says:

The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading. (2:14)

In other words, the people had exchanged the Truth for a theology that didn’t require them to repent of sin. And they liked it.

But the consequences for disobedience were without mercy. In fact, the writer says this sad statement: “The Lord is like an enemy…” (2:5) Then he goes on to say things like God had laid waste His dwelling, destroyed His place of meeting, rejected His altar and abandoned His sanctuary. God had withdrawn from Israel.

It’s a sobering thought to think God is like an enemy when He is punishing sin. This patient, loving God who pursues each of us, woos us, throws out one sign after another to reveal Himself as the One True God, has a limit to His mercy. And His final judgment without mercy is worse than any of us can imagine.

The thing is, God wrote down all His requirements so that there would be no question about what is expected of us. Then He spelled out what His anger and judgment looks like so no one could say they didn’t know. But He also tells us in His Word that He Himself provided the way for us sinful people to go to Him, receive His mercy and forgiveness, and live not as an enemy, but as a beloved child now and forever.

If God is the enemy it is only because we have embraced our own “truth,” refused to deal with sin according to Scripture. We’ve listened to false prophets who tell us a relationship with God means health and wealth, that worship of God should be an experience, that Jesus isn’t God, that there are many ways to approach God, that a loving God doesn’t send anyone to hell.

And if God is the enemy, we are in serious trouble, my friend.

Check Your Weapon (Jeremiah 46-48)

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Do you get tired of this spiritual warfare you are fighting? You face the enemy, you resist temptation, flee from sin, and God gives you a victory. But you turn around, and there’s Satan again at the door with a new arsenal ready to lead yet another attack using another temptation, then another, and another.

God, through Jeremiah, is talking about judgment on the nations that rejected Him. The truth is, anyone who rejects God faces judgment. And every time we sin, we are rejecting God.

That’s why I don’t read about “them” in Scripture. What was true in Jeremiah’s time is still true today. Like this:

“Ah, sword of the Lord,” you cry, “how long till you rest? Return to your scabbard; cease and be still.” But how can it rest when the Lord has commanded it, when he has ordered it to attack Ashkelon and the seacoast?” (47:6-7)

If you aren’t weary of the spiritual warfare, you aren’t fighting the spiritual enemy. How can you think about resting when God has commanded it? Hear what He has to say about that:

A curse on him who is lax in doing the Lord’s business! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed! (48:10)

How clean is your sword? Is it stained with Satan’s blood because you have stood up for Truth, you’ve resisted temptation, you’ve introduced someone to the Savior? Do you go to bed at night spent, exhausted from being a soldier in God’s army, doing this and that, going here and there, speaking to this person and that person, tending to the needs of others God brings to mind, studying God’s Word, growing, maturing, being stretched and pulled as He transforms you into someone who isn’t afraid to strike a blow in the heart of Satan?

Or are you lax in doing God’s work? Have you put away your sword and are content to leave it there shiny and new? I don’t see anywhere in Scripture where God retires his soldiers. I don’t see an age limit to picking up your sword and using it in the fight for the kingdom of God. I don’t see any army or any soldier in Scripture who went home after winning one battle. This is war!

Check your weapon. I pray it is nicked, and stained, and ready for another battle. I’m checking mine.

The Promise of Obedience (Jeremiah 41-45)

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I confess that I can wake up in the morning and, before I get out of bed pray, “I give you this day, Lord. Anything you want me to do I will do it! I’m ready.”

But then when God lays on my heart the name of a person I need to call, I know I should, but I don’t. God nudges me to change the channel from an ungodly TV show, but I don’t. He prompts me to speak to someone about sin, but I talk myself out of it. I overeat, I gossip, I think bad thoughts, I get jealous. I don’t love like Jesus loves.

I am like the Jews who told Jeremiah that they’d do anything God told them to do. But when Jeremiah told them what God wanted them to do they said, “anything but that.” They flat out disobeyed God, and they paid the consequences.

I am reminded that God doesn’t want me to promise to obey Him. We demands that I obey Him. He doesn’t want me to say the words I think He wants to hear, He wants me do the things He asks me to do. God is not impressed with my promises, or my good intentions. He tells me to be holy, to love my neighbor, to go and make disciples, to flee temptation, and be set apart.

He will accept nothing less. And neither should I.

Be Still For A Minute (Habakkuk)

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Habakkuk couldn’t believe God was going to use the wicked Babylonians to punish Israel for rejecting God. The prophet prayed that God would send a revival, that God would spare the Jews from impending doom.

But God seemed to be quiet. Habakkuk had some questions and wanted to know the answers. You can almost hear the frustration in his voice.

So when God finally answered, He started out by saying, “Pay attention, Habakkuk. Write this down, then share what I tell you with everyone.” God proceeded to remind Habakkuk of the sin in Israel: Pride. Greed. Thievery. Victims and Oppressors. Cheats. Dishonesty. Violence. Drunkenness. Murder. Idolatry.

But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. (2:20) A Holy God cannot tolerate sin of any kind, and sin was running rampant in Israel. You want answers? Then you’ve got to be still for just a minute and listen.

Habakkuk had to admit that whatever came, Israel deserved. But he also reminded God of His mercy in the past, and believing God continues to be merciful, Habakkuk said this:

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. (3:18)

Folks, we deserve the unrest in this country. Can you say we are not guilty of every one of those sins God pinpointed when he spoke with Habakkuk? I’m not talking about the USA as a whole. I’m talking about Christians in the USA. Do you see yourself in any of those sins? One is too many. Are there people you know who call themselves Christians, yet hold on to sin in their lives? That’s the problem.

Once again I am convinced God is calling us to repentance. Not a big evangelistic movement where unsaved people come to know Him by the thousands. I don’t believe God “sends” revival. I think revival comes when individuals confess their sin and repent, when lives are changed and we walk with God. I believe God is calling Christians to confess our sins, to get right with Him, to stop blending in with the world and start to stand apart, to call sin sin and demand purity in each other.

We serve a Holy God. And if we are not holy, He will not bless. I know from Scripture that if we humble ourselves, He will hear and heal our land. If the Church (that’s you and me) gets right with God, this unrest will cease. There will be unsaved people coming to know Jesus, perhaps by the thousands.

But maybe it’s time we are still for a moment, that we have that private conversation with God, that we go to Him on His terms, and reignite a personal relationship with Him. There are so many things vying for our attention these days, maybe it’s time we turn off the TV and open our Bibles and quietly allow God to reveal Himself again.

I pray each of us will be still, and ask God to reveal sin in our lives so that we can repent. I pray each of us will quiet our hearts, and know God in Truth. My prayer is that we all will take responsibility for each other. How can we convince a non-believer they have to confess their sins if we we don’t demand the same of our Christian brothers and sisters?

I think this country is heading for disaster. You and I, Christian, are the only ones standing in the gap. What are you going to do about it?

I Will Be Found By You (Jeremiah 29)

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The Israelites were in captivity. God was punishing them for years of all kinds of disobedience, including idol worship. They were prisoners, but God told them He would free them in seventy years…

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (verse 11)

God is talking to His children. This promise was not for just anybody. And, because I believe all Scripture is given for us here in 2020, this promise is not for people who don’t know God through His Son today. If you are a Jesus-follower, no matter how bad your circumstances seem, God has a plan for you that includes hope and a future. You may have to go through a period of bondage. Israel was captive in Babylon for seventy years. But be assured, God has a plan to get you through to the other side in amazing fashion.

Then listen to verse 12-14a:

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you…

Again, He is talking to His wayward children in Babylon. But there are many verses in the Bible that help me understand the same is true for us. Verses like:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)

God is telling us that whoever believes in Jesus is saved, free, with a hope and a future. And He is telling us that if we seek Him, He will not hide from us. He will be found if we go to Him through the cross of Jesus.

I don’t know if your circumstances have you feeling like you are alone and in bondage, drowning and helpless. If you are His child, take heart, dear one. He will not forsake you. Go to Him. Trust Him. There you will find hope.

You might not have a relationship with Jesus today. But I know that if you humble yourself, go to God and ask Him to forgive your sins, if you repent and accept what Jesus did for you when He died on the cross and rose again from the grave, you will find God in a way you can’t imagine.

I believe He is telling you today that if you seek Him, “I will be found by you.”

Becoming Me (Jeremiah 18-22)

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I’ve never tried to use a potter’s wheel. It must take practice to know the exact touch, the right pressure to use to turn a lump of damp clay into a beautiful and useful vessel. The potter’s hands touch every fraction of an inch inside and out, as the pliable clay is molded into the finished product. If the clay begins to harden, the potter adds just enough water to make the clay soft and pliable again, so that he can continue to fashion something beautiful. He works, and re-works the clay until it is exactly the way He intends it to be.

The potter’s wheel is one picture of our relationship to God. The clay has no say, no control, no opinion. It is totally at the mercy of the potter.

That’s right where I want to be. I want to be molded and fashioned after God’s will, and if I begin to try to take control of my life, or if I start to become hardened to sin in my life, I want the Potter to intervene, to soften me so that He can continue to work His magic in my life.

I love the analogy of clay in the potter’s hand. But I also love the picture of being that vessel God can use. In Scripture we see examples of empty pots being filled by God, as in Elisha and the widow, and Jesus at the wedding. We see pots that are clean on the outside, but filthy inside as in the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. We see a woman at a well ready to fill her pot with water when Jesus offers her Living Water. We see a broken pot no one wants, here in 22:28.

Today, I want to be both pliable clay in the hands of the Potter, and an empty vessel that only wants to be filled by God Himself. I want Him to mold, push and pull me and never stop until I meet Him face to face. I want to be that vessel filled to overflowing by the Holy Spirit so that I, like Jeremiah will be compelled to speak of God every chance I get.

Jeremiah said this:

But if I say, “I will not mention (God) or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed I cannot.” (20:9)

I want to be a vessel not satisfied with keeping God to myself, but one used for exactly the reason I was created: to know God AND to make Him known.

As old as I am, I am still becoming me. And honestly, I don’t want the responsibility. I’ve never heard of a lump of clay creating a pot of itself, anyway. I want to put my self in the hands of the Potter, and trust Him to create a beautiful vessel He can use for His Name.

There is an old hymn that keeps running through my mind this morning. The first verse speaks about me being the clay, the last verse about being that vessel. I want to leave you with these beautiful words:

HAVE THINE OWN WAY, LORD: by Adelaide Pollard

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay!
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.

He’s Got His Reasons (Jeremiah 10-14)

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Jeremiah was fed up. He was following God, warning the Jews about consequences for sin, doing what God asked him to do to show the Jews they needed to repent, but they ignored him. Instead of repentance, sin ran rampant, and Jeremiah had had enough.

“Drop them off like sheep to be butchered,” he prayed. “Set them apart for the day of slaughter. Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the peoples who do not call on your name.” (12:3; 10:25)

I mean, he’s got a point. People who reject God, those who flaunt their sinfulness and persecute we who follow Jesus ought to be wiped out, they shouldn’t be allowed to continue. Right? “Get ’em, God! They deserve it.”

I’m reminded of James and John who wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy the Samaritans who had disrespected Jesus. Jesus’ answer? “Move on, boys. Let’s leave these folks alone.”

Really? Jesus let them get away with treating him so badly?

Yes.

Yes He did.

And here’s why: After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Apostle Philip went to Samaria and shared the Gospel. Many Samaritans were saved as a result. Most likely some of those James and John had wanted to incinerate came to know Jesus as their Messiah!

I guess the lesson here is, let’s go about our day doing what Jesus told us to do. Let’s love our neighbors, do good to those who mistreat us, pray for our enemies. Let’s go and make disciples, grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus.

Then let’s let judgment up to God. He’s got His reasons.