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. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
Some of the elders of the people of Israel came to Ezekiel to ask him to inquire of God on their behalf. Ezekiel condemned them for following in the sinful footsteps of their ancestors. He gave a list of the sins of their ancestors and suggested that the people of the current generation intended to practice those same sins. Then he tells them the root of all of their sins, they want to be like the peoples around them, the peoples of the world. All too often that is the sin that we fall into. We do not want to be different. We want to be just like everybody else. So, instead of doing the things which God tells us to do, we commit the same sins that those around us commit.
I will strive to live my life by the philosophy that if following God’s will makes me stand out from the crowd, so be it. The only way to be a Christian and not stand out from the crowd is to convince others to follow God’s will too.
The law of the first covenant required that nearly all of the parts of the Tabernacle be cleansed with the blood of animals. However, the Tabernacle and everything in it were mere copies of things in heaven. Christ did not enter a holy place made with human hands that was a copy of the one in heaven, rather He entered into heaven itself. As a result He needed a sacrifice that was better than the blood of animals and thus offered up His own blood in sacrifice. He did not need to do this time and again as the high priests of the first covenant did. Instead He offered Himself up once and for all to take away our sins. This happened but once so that when He returns it will not be to offer Himself up again, but will be to welcome into heaven itself those who have accepted His cleansing.
The psalmist challenges us to tell others of how the Lord has redeemed us. We all have different stories to tell. Some of us were lost and homeless, some were near onto death. Some of us were in darkness and gloom, some were imprisoned in misery. Some of us were fools and rebelled against God and suffered for our rebellion. Some faced dangers in far away lands. Some were like this young man, at their wits end. But just like this man, when we cried out to God, He heard our cries and He answered us.
I hope you followed that link and watched the video (if you have not already seen it). I was going to summarize the story, but it is better if you watch the video for yourself. However, I will say this, the young man cried out to God for help, not truly believing there was a God, and God answered him in a way that makes it impossible for him to ever doubt that God is real.
If you want to make your parents happy, and leave their critics with egg on their faces, exercise wisdom in all that you do.