God's Blessing And Our Straying - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ezekiel 19:11-14,

"Its branches were strong,
    fit for a ruler's scepter.
It towered high
    above the thick foliage,
conspicuous for its height
    and for its many branches.
But it was uprooted in fury
    and thrown to the ground.
The east wind made it shrivel,
    it was stripped of its fruit;
its strong branches withered
    and fire consumed them.
Now it is planted in the desert,
    in a dry and thirsty land.
Fire spread from one of its main branches
    and consumed its fruit.
No strong branch is left on it
    fit for a ruler's scepter."

This metaphoric lament over Israel and its princes points to a truth about all mankind. Here is something our "health and wealth gospel" friends may want to take note of. Israel had been blessed by God, as pictured in this lament. However, in spite of the goodies God blessed Israel with, she turned her back on God. Throughout the Pentateuch, the book of Joshua particularly, and the entire history of Israel, it mattered not that God had provided his blessings, (and no matter how great those blessings) Israel would wander from God. It is not just Israel either, as all mankind has a sinful nature that prompts us to wander from God.

What we do learn from the book of Judges and what this lament in Ezekiel points to is that often it is not the goodies that God gives, his blessings, his abundance, the peace and affluence he bestows on people that will bring their faithfulness to him, but just the opposite. It seems it is only in difficult times that people turn to God and plead for his help. It is only in those times people reach out to him, commit themselves to him, turn to him, remain faithful to him.

And, paradoxically, often, when God, in his mercy provides the good things in his blessings on people, it is in that state of peace and affluence they drift from him.

Don't believe me? Read your Bible and find out for yourself. You may even find it true in your own life. In speaking of believers, when Jesus said, "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.", Revelation 3:19, he meant what he said. It is in love he doesn't answer those prayers of making us affluent and removing our difficulties. He knows it is when we are closest to him we are happiest. He also knows when we believers live in peace and affluence, we may stray. It is the proclivity of our sinful natures, even as believers, that may cause us to drift from him.

Only in the resurrection, when we are completely, utterly, and finally delivered from our sinful natures, will we find peace and affluence no longer an opiate that causes us to drift from our Creator and Savior. What a day that will be!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Is The Lord Just And Fair? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ezekiel 18:29,

"The house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Are my ways unjust, O houses of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?"

So, how do we measure what is just or unjust? From our verse here we learn that the house of Israel accused the Lord of being unjust. What yardstick, what measure do we use to determine such a thing? Is there some external rule of measure we go to?

We all have our concept of what is just and unjust. Although many of us would agree on most things as to whether they are just or not, fair or not, I suspect that we would not all agree on everything.

So, how do we determine if someone is acting in an unjust manner as Israel accused God of doing? Is there a yardstick to determine whether someone is acting in a just or unjust manner? The answer to that is yes and the rule of measure is the Lord himself. As the creator of the cosmos, the Lord himself is the very definition of what is right or wrong, what is just or unjust. That which is consistent with the Lord's character is just. That which is in agreement with the Lord's perspective is just. The cosmos was created by the Lord and is ordered according to how he has created it. It operates on the design and principles that reflect his character and nature.

It is delusional thinking to even consider the Lord to be unjust. His very character defines the concept of just and fair. In the insanity that Israel had sunk to, they were unable to think clearly about the Lord's actions and decisions. Those who are embittered toward the Lord and take the position that God is unjust in allowing something to happen in their lives are actually in rebellion against the Lord and rejecting him, his character and his nature. It is never appropriate to accuse the Lord of being unjust when our own sin brings bad things into our lives, when we respond to life in an expression of our sin nature or the fact that we live in a sinful and fallen world perverted by the sin of mankind.

But on the other side of this is the reality that we can know and count on our just and fair God. He is just in a way that, as his creatures, we sense the "rightness" of his character and nature. The Lord's sense of what is fair and just fits so well because it is consistent with how he designed life to be lived. For the most part, we have an innate sense of the appropriateness of God's judgments and his sense of what is fair and just. And the most wonderful part of acknowledging this is that because God never changes, whatever I might not understand clearly, I can count on God always being just and fair. So, if I don't understand just exactly, say, what happens to little children who die and those who are not mentally equipped to respond to the gospel message, I can take great satisfaction in knowing our Lord is just and fair and that whatever he does will be appropriate and satisfying to us all in the end.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

The Lord Is Faithful To His Word - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ezekiel 17:24b,

"I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it."

The word of the Lord is iron-clad. All too often we run into someone who says one thing and does another. We hook up with someone who has given us a commitment and then find they drift off somewhere else. Some are much more true to their word and some are less. In Proverbs the question is asked, "A faithful man who can find?"

How wonderful it is that when the Lord says he is going to do something, that it is going to happen. We can "hang our hat" on it. His word is certain. There is "no shadow of turning" with him. Here in this chapter he gives a parable about the coming judgment of Jerusalem and its inhabitants but finishes the chapter by informing the house of Israel he is going to provide a shoot – a prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ!

As we know, both things have happened just as the Lord said they would. As I think of the wonderful hope we have in Jesus Christ, that he is coming back for us, that we will celebrate our resurrection one day with him and one another - and enjoy him forever, to know his word is as good as done provides such a wonderful confidence we have in him. 

Today I appreciate so much the reality that when the Lord speaks I can know with absolute certainty he will do it. What the Lord says is always as good as done. I find this a wonderful quality in him.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

The Lord Provides Hope In His Judgment - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ezekiel 16:7,8,15,59-60,

"I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels… Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine… But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his… I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you."

In this chapter I see so much of the heart of our Lord. In it he describes how he made Israel the beautiful mate she was to be for him, and made her his. Out of the wonderful things he blessed her with, she turned to prostitution and pursued other lovers with them. The Lord is expressing here his emotional attachment through his covenantal relationship with Israel. She was a bride to him and he was her lover and husband. Now, through the infidelity of a wayward wife, the Lord expresses the pain and jealousy of a wronged husband: Israel will pay for how she has treated the Lord; she will pay as a wayward wife caught in the worst of adultery and prostitution.

And yet, in spite of Israel's adultery, the Lord tells her he will yet establish an everlasting covenant with her… a new covenant! What a big heart this is! The Lord is no detached judge issuing judgments from on high. He had entered into a covenant, a marriage with Israel, and now carries the heavy heart of a husband who has been cheated. He will make Israel pay for her adultery, her prostitution, but in the end he will redeem her from all this and enter into a new relationship with her. And, today, we look forward to that coming wedding banquet as the bride of Jesus Christ.

What a heart our Lord has!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

Existence Without Purpose - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ezekiel 15:2-5,

"Son of man [Ezekiel], how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest? Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from it to hang things on? And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything? If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?

Jerusalem had become as a useless vine for the Lord's purposes. Although Israel had been chosen by God as his own covenant people (because of the faith of Abraham) for the purpose of rolling out his plan of redeeming mankind, they had placed themselves in a position where they were no longer useful to him. They were no longer fit for service to him, they had lost their purpose in the things of God and as such, there would be no satisfaction or fulfillment for them in this life. All they had to look forward to was their own destruction at the hands of God. All this because they had turned their backs on God. They had literally placed themselves beyond usefulness for God's intentions for them.

It is not as though Israel was finished in God's purposes. However, in their current condition of sin and apostasy, they were worthless to him. They now faced God's judgment, and, hopefully, through all God would send their way, they might become useful once again to him.

I can't think of a more discouraging and disheartening position to be in than to find oneself without purpose in life. Yet, having turned their backs on God, this is exactly where they placed themselves.

It is never a good thing to turn against God. Only in him do we find meaningful existence, purposeful existence, fulfilling existence.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.