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. I am without power in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and I am not always able to get online in my normal routine. In addition, I usually compose these on my desktop PC and typing them on my laptop is a different experience. Please bear with me until I get back into my usual routine.
Seven days after his vision of commissioning Ezekiel received his first message to the people of Israel in exile. God told him that if God gave him a message to warn those who sinned against their sin and he did not deliver it, God would hold him responsible for their deaths when they died from their sins. If on the other hand Ezekiel did give them God’s warning and they did not listen, they would still die from their sins, but God would not hold Ezekiel responsible. I believe that the same message applies to us today. We are responsible to warn those around us of the consequences of their sins. If we fail to do so, we will be responsible for their suffering and death as a result of those sins. On the other hand, if we do give them God’s warning and they do not listen, then their end will be on their head. There is one other piece to this. They may listen to us, turn from their sins and be saved.
God then tells Ezekiel to draw a map of Jerusalem on a clay brick and to show it as being under siege. He is to then lie on his side facing his map of Jerusalem for 390 days, one day for each year of Israel’s sin. After that he is to turn over and lie on his other side facing his map of Jerusalem for 40 days, one day for each year of Judah’s sin. During this time he is to eat bread made from a mixture of beans and grain, cooked over cow dung and only a carefully measured amount each day along with a carefully measured amount of water. This is to symbolize the state of food within Jerusalem during the siege it will be undergoing.
The writer tells us that God has prepared a rest for those who listen to His word and have faith in Him. IF we obey the message in God’s word we will be able to enter into His rest when the time is right. If we fail to obey, we will fall and lose the opportunity to enter that rest. The word of God is able to reveal our inmost thoughts and being to God and He will hold us accountable.
We can come boldly before God because we have a High Priest to intercede for us, one who experienced all of the temptations that we face, yet did not sin. Because He faced the temptations that we face, He understands our circumstances. So because we have such an intercessor, let us come before God who will show us mercy and provide us with the grace to help us when we need it most.
God has filled the world with a great variety of creatures. Let us look at the wonders of the world and praise the Lord.
I will praise my God to my last breath!
May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
Let this ever be my song and my prayer.
If we attempt to trick and trap others, we are the ones who will suffer.