For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.
Lying will hurt others, and no matter what else you say, you will never convince them that you do not hate them. Flattering someone may cause them to try things they do not have what it takes to accomplish, leading them into all sorts of trouble.
Give thanks to the Lord, let the whole world know what He has done. Search for the Lord, continually seek Him (not just some times, all the time). I love this psalm. It gives me joy to read. But it is also a challenge. Do I let everyone I meet know what God has done for me? Do I tell them about the things I have seen Him do in the world around me? The answer, unfortunately, is that I do not tell everyone I meet those things. And part of the reason I do not do so is because I do not continually seek Him. Oh, I seek the Lord, but then I get distracted and forget about Him while I pursue other things. Oh God, give me the discipline to seek You and Your will all of the time!
This passage talks about how no one becomes high priest simply by choosing it themselves. In order to become high priest one must be chosen by God. Jesus did not choose to become our high priest, a priest in the order of Melchizedek. I think there is a lesson here for how we choose all types of Church leadership. We should not choose our Church leaders from those who have chosen to be Church leaders. Those among us who have been chosen by God and the Church for leadership positions should choose to accept such a calling.
The writer talks about how his readers are not ready for solid food spiritual teaching. He says that they are like infants who still need milk, they are not yet ready to move beyond the most basic of spiritual teaching. There comes a time when we need to move on from the basic spiritual teaching that we give those who are new to Christian faith. In order to do so we must train ourselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong. I will use another metaphor here to explain what I think the author is saying. Just as an infant needs to train its muscles by pushing itself up to all fours, then by crawling, and then by standing helped by an adult, or by holding onto a solid object, so to must we train ourselves in spiritual knowledge by using what we have learned. Until we develop our ability to use what we have already learned, we cannot learn more. And why do infants struggle to master the abilities in order to learn to walk? They do so because they are encouraged both by seeing adults and older children doing so, and by the positive reinforcement those adults and older children give them as they master the steps in learning to do so. Our congregations should be structured in the same way, with believers at different levels of spiritual maturity encouraging those less mature in the faith to develop.
God gave Ezekiel a message for those remaining in Judah and Jerusalem telling them that the end was approaching, that the coming disaster was no longer avoidable. Their wickedness and pride and born its full flower and the time had come when judgement would fall. It was too late to avoid judgement. There comes a time for each and everyone of us, and for each and every society, when it is too late to repent of our sins and turn from our sins. If we have not turned from our sins before that time arrives, it will be too late to avoid the judgement and disaster that are coming.
Then God took Ezekiel to show him why the judgement that was coming on Jerusalem was no longer avoidable (the language suggests to me that Ezekiel was reluctant to witness these things, but was given no choice in the matter). He was shown how the people were worshiping an idol where they should be worshiping God. Then he was shown how the leaders (I get the impression that this group was composed of both religious and secular leaders) were worshiping idols so despicable that they could not do so openly, even among a people who would openly worship other idols. Then Ezekiel is shown women partaking in a pagan worship ritual in the Temple gates. Finally he was shown men in front of the altar to God with their backs to the altar worshiping the sun. All of these incidents indicate people not just worshiping idols but doing so as part of what they would portray as worship of God. In what ways are we, or the society around us, worshiping idols in the name of worshiping God?