Ezekiel 13:20-23
English Standard Version (ESV)
So there's a bunch of magicians, and they're somehow ensnaring the people through trickery and falsehood, bringing despair into their lives through false hopes. You can picture disappointed lives, led astray through promises that didn't turn out, through hopes that once rose to the clouds but didn't fulfill their lofty goals.
Surely, we've all fell prisoner to false hopes. We've believed in someone or something, thinking that it would be the cure what ails us, only to be let down, disappointed, entangled in the falling shreds of a promise that once carried us into the skies.
God delivers us from such entanglement. How do we know that he is God? Because he delivers us. That's who God is -- a deliverer. His identity is confirmed by his actions. This is the cause of Jesus' response to John's disciples. They came and asked if he was the Messiah, and he told them to look around -- the evidence of his identity was in his actions.
So God delivers us from our sin, and in his actions , he reveals his identity as our true hope and deliverer.
Friday, January 5, 2018
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Ezekiel 11:17-24
Ezekiel 11:17-24
New International Version (NIV)
The German word 'schadenfreude' means taking pleasure from someone else's misfortune. We look upon our enemies who fall upon hard times and we find a secret joy in it. When we see those we oppose doing well, we often cross our fingers and hope that they'll get what we think is coming to them. It's a human desire for revenge -- and often, when someone has received their just desserts, we hope they stay in whatever pit they have fallen into. We hope their despair becomes permanent.
It makes it all the more amazing to think about the love, grace and forgiveness that is available in God. The Israelites are banished to captivity, but God doesn't forget about them -- God gathers them back, like a mother hen gathering her chicks, like a faithful teacher gathering her students. God reaches out and restores our hearts, offering us a new spirit, one of hope and love and patience and kindness, which can be very different than the true condition of our hearts. God does not forget us in our trials, whether they are self-imposed or not, but rather reaches out, offers grace, and points to a new and wondrous future.
New International Version (NIV)
The German word 'schadenfreude' means taking pleasure from someone else's misfortune. We look upon our enemies who fall upon hard times and we find a secret joy in it. When we see those we oppose doing well, we often cross our fingers and hope that they'll get what we think is coming to them. It's a human desire for revenge -- and often, when someone has received their just desserts, we hope they stay in whatever pit they have fallen into. We hope their despair becomes permanent.
It makes it all the more amazing to think about the love, grace and forgiveness that is available in God. The Israelites are banished to captivity, but God doesn't forget about them -- God gathers them back, like a mother hen gathering her chicks, like a faithful teacher gathering her students. God reaches out and restores our hearts, offering us a new spirit, one of hope and love and patience and kindness, which can be very different than the true condition of our hearts. God does not forget us in our trials, whether they are self-imposed or not, but rather reaches out, offers grace, and points to a new and wondrous future.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Ezekiel 3:1-9
Ezekiel 3:1-9
New International Version (NIV)
So many of us want to skip to the second part of God's command. We want to go out, but we don't want to eat first.
God commands Ezekiel to eat the scroll. He's not just looking at it -- he's taking it in, to the point that it's becoming part of him. The Word is food that nourishes us, sustenance we need for our journey. This is more than just reading -- it's reading with the intent that our consumption of the text changes us. Do you read the Bible this way? Do you take it in, or do you just scan it?
Once the text is within us, then we can be sent, but it isn't always going to be easy or glamorous. Sometimes, it's a hard message, one that people will oppose. God tells Ezekiel that he is in for a rough road. God's blessing to Ezekiel is to make him as tough as the people who will be opposing him. What a gift! God reminds him that the fear and anger of the people will be directed towards God, and that Ezekiel is not to be responsible for that. Ezekiel's job is to be transformed by the Word and then to be faithful, no matter the challenges.
New International Version (NIV)
So many of us want to skip to the second part of God's command. We want to go out, but we don't want to eat first.
God commands Ezekiel to eat the scroll. He's not just looking at it -- he's taking it in, to the point that it's becoming part of him. The Word is food that nourishes us, sustenance we need for our journey. This is more than just reading -- it's reading with the intent that our consumption of the text changes us. Do you read the Bible this way? Do you take it in, or do you just scan it?
Once the text is within us, then we can be sent, but it isn't always going to be easy or glamorous. Sometimes, it's a hard message, one that people will oppose. God tells Ezekiel that he is in for a rough road. God's blessing to Ezekiel is to make him as tough as the people who will be opposing him. What a gift! God reminds him that the fear and anger of the people will be directed towards God, and that Ezekiel is not to be responsible for that. Ezekiel's job is to be transformed by the Word and then to be faithful, no matter the challenges.
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Isaiah 43:16-21
Isaiah 43:16-21
New International Version (NIV)
Happy New Year! We're a full day into a new year -- who knows what God might have in store for the year?
Think of the Israelites -- trapped between the onrushing Egyptian army and the sea, they couldn't see what God might do, but God made a way through the sea and led them into safety while defeating their enemies. All the planning in the world might not have predicted that, but the Israelites did need to be ready to move.
So we don't know what God might have in store for us this year. God could have prepared us for something big this year, or this year may be a year of preparation. Maybe this is a year of healing, or maybe the most important thing you'll do this year will be to be present to a friend in need of companionship on their journey.
But let's not sit idly while we wait for God to show us our next step. There is plenty of active preparation you can be involved in. You can be in active prayer every day, training yourself to listen to God and leading your heart to love God more than you do today. You can be in worship, re-orienting yourself and your life around the worship of God, being reminded of God's glory through communal worship. You can be involved in community, leaning into one another and both offering your gifts and love to others while simultaneously being lifted up and encouraged on your walk in faith. There is plenty for us to do as we wait for God to reveal what the next step is for us in faith.
New International Version (NIV)
Happy New Year! We're a full day into a new year -- who knows what God might have in store for the year?
Think of the Israelites -- trapped between the onrushing Egyptian army and the sea, they couldn't see what God might do, but God made a way through the sea and led them into safety while defeating their enemies. All the planning in the world might not have predicted that, but the Israelites did need to be ready to move.
So we don't know what God might have in store for us this year. God could have prepared us for something big this year, or this year may be a year of preparation. Maybe this is a year of healing, or maybe the most important thing you'll do this year will be to be present to a friend in need of companionship on their journey.
But let's not sit idly while we wait for God to show us our next step. There is plenty of active preparation you can be involved in. You can be in active prayer every day, training yourself to listen to God and leading your heart to love God more than you do today. You can be in worship, re-orienting yourself and your life around the worship of God, being reminded of God's glory through communal worship. You can be involved in community, leaning into one another and both offering your gifts and love to others while simultaneously being lifted up and encouraged on your walk in faith. There is plenty for us to do as we wait for God to reveal what the next step is for us in faith.
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