I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I am sorry if my posts are not posted in a timely fashion for the next little while. OK, I have my power back, and I have my Internet back. I was just getting into a new routine and I think I am going to keep some aspects of that new routine. I hope that no one was too disappointed in my posts for the last week or so (or at least no more than they are routinely disappointed by my posts).
Ezekiel uses a metaphor of a cooking pot that is full of corruption where the meat is boiled in the pot so that it all comes out the same. It does not matter if you pull out the choicest cut or most vile, it will taste the same. I am not sure what point Ezekiel was making here, but to me this follows on the point I made yesterday. In this country too many of us are unwilling to inconvenience ourselves by not shopping on Sunday. Ultimately this may be just as much idolatry as those who abort their babies because those babies would be inconvenient. I pray to God that the corruption in this country has not yet reached the point where it cannot be cleaned out and God has no choice but to throw the whole pot and its contents on to the fire for destruction. Will we, those of us who call ourselves servants of Christ, stand in the gap as we work to rebuild the wall of righteousness? Or will we continue to rely on the government to fix it, so that we don’t need to be inconvenienced?
Before I comment on what the next portion says to me, let me be clear that I do not see the United States as the successor to Israel (or Judah) as God’s chosen nation. That being said, I think that this next section has relevance today to those in other nations who rejoice in the thought of seeing the United States brought low. Ezekiel prophesied that the destruction of Jerusalem would spill over on to the surrounding nations. They would also suffer destruction. Those in other nations should not rejoice in God’s judgment being poured out on the United States in destruction because that destruction will spill out on to the whole earth. I cannot truly speak of those who live in other nations, but my perception is that they also worship the same idols that I see being worshiped in the United States. Wherever we who call on the name of the Lord and claim to be servants of Christ live, we need to stand in the gap and work to rebuild the wall of righteousness before God’s righteous judgment comes down on the whole earth.
Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about things that we cannot see. It is by faith that we believe that God created the universe. None of us were there to see how it happened. Some people are unwilling to have faith in anything other than what they can see, touch, hear or feel. They struggle because their logic and a study of those things tell them that at one point the universe began out of nothing, the Big Bang. They struggle to develop a theory that something existed before that beginning, but nothing they can see, touch, hear or feel provides evidence to support such theories. As a Christian, I am content to believe by faith that God created the universe out of nothing.
The writer discusses various patriarchs (and one matriarch) of faith and what lessons we can learn from them. He mentions Enoch who by faith walked with God and was taken up into heaven without dying. Before he was taken up Enoch was known as a man who pleased God. The writer tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. He tells us that in order to come to God, we must believe that God exists. I will tell you that if you have trouble knowing if God exists, if you are struggling with knowing if He is real, resolve to live your life for the next period of time (I would recommend at least a year) as if you believe that He is. Make the choices you would make if you were 100 percent sure that God was real. I am confident that God will show you that He is indeed real if you take that step of faith.
The writer goes on to talk of Noah, Abraham and Sara. He tells us that they died believing what God had promised them even though they did not see it. They lived their lives on this earth as nomads and foreigners, looking forward to a country of their own. They could have gone back to the country they came from, but they were looking for a better place, a heavenly home. Because they had this faith that God was preparing such a place for them, God is not ashamed to be called their God. Do we see this earth and the nation we are currently living in as a place that we are just passing through? Or are we caught up in making the place where we are more comfortable?
All who stand against Christ will be humbled and made as a footstool beneath His feet. Let us bow down before Him willingly and serve Him, our High Priest.
The writer of this proverb suggests that many people are not morning persons and that if you are, you should be sensitive to this fact.