For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
Do not brag and boast about what you are going to do in the future, or about the good things which are going to come your way. None of us knows what tomorrow holds. So, it is best to qualify our plans with “if God wills” (even if only in our minds).
Rather than tell everyone how wonderful we are, let us wait for others to praise us. Such praise will carry more weight and have more meaning.
The psalmist shows us how God laid His plans and brought them to pass. Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, yet rose to power in the land in order to provide a sanctuary for his family in time of need. Then after the Egyptians turned on the people of Israel God sent Moses and Aaron and used His great power to bring them out of Egypt and into the land of Canaan. Let us always remember that no matter how bad things are today, they are part of God’s plan to do great things for and through us.
Today’s passage contains a teaching which I think takes some careful thought. The writer warns us that those who have experienced the power of the Holy Spirit within themselves who later turn away from God will never turn back to him once more. He tells us that it is impossible to bring such people back to repentance once they have turned from God. I am torn about what this means for us. On the one hand, I am convinced that we should never give up on those we know who have turned away from God. On the other hand, we should not waste energy on those who will never appreciate our effort.
I have rewritten the previous sentence five time because it keeps coming out harsher than I think is appropriate. We should never forget what Jesus said, “With God all things are possible.” Yet, we must recognize that when people have chosen to walk away from God, He will let them go. God will honor our decisions, even when it breaks His heart.
The leaders in Jerusalem were telling the people that Jerusalem was safe, that it was time to invest in the future. The leaders were claiming that all was rosy despite the people who had been taken into exile. They claimed that those taken into exile were far from God and that God had given their land to those who remained. In many ways this reminds me of the leaders today who are telling us how wonderful things are, when wages have been falling, along with productivity. They keep telling us to save less and consume more. God cast judgment on the leaders in the Jerusalem of Ezekiel’s day for the injustice they performed against the people of Jerusalem. He will bring judgment against the leaders doing the same today.