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.

     At the end of yesterday’s passage, Ezekiel was taken in a vision to the top of a very high mountain in the land of Israel. On the south side of the mountain there were buildings arranged in a way that looked like a city. In the vision he was met at the gate by a man with a face like glowing bronze who was holding a measuring string and a measuring rod. This man led him into a new Temple and measured its walls and rooms. Ezekiel described the measurements of the Temple, its walls, its rooms, and the various outbuildings associated with it.
     As I read the passage today, I struggled to understand what God wanted me to understand out of this passage. Then something struck me. Ezekiel was describing an empty building in an empty city. This was a Temple and a city not built by human hands. Rather it was a city and Temple built by God that was waiting for the people of God to come into it to worship and fellowship with God. The Temple was waiting for Christ to come as our high priest and open it up for us by sacrificing Himself for our sins.

     James wrote here about the root cause of so much that is wrong in this world. He said that we fight, quarrel, and kill because we desire what we do not have. Further we do not have because we do not ask God for it. He then points out that even when we do ask, we do not get because we ask for things in order to use them for our own pleasure. While James was writing to Christians, this applies to everyone.
     He goes on to warn us that being friendly to the world, which we exhibit by desiring worldly pleasures rather than godly service, is antithetical to friendship with God. If we submit ourselves to God and resist the devil, the devil will flee from us. All too often we get this exactly backwards. We submit to the devil and resist God. I will strive to humbly do as God wills me to do. Humility means that I will not speak out against my fellow believer, nor will I judge the decisions which they choose to make.
     One of the most important points James makes is at the end of today’s passage. He tells us that if we know what we ought to do and do not do it, it is as much sin as doing that which we know we ought not to do. A sin of omission is just as great as any sin of commission.

     Part of this psalm was quoted by Jesus to the Pharisees and as a result is often interpreted as a prophecy of His coming. I will not question that interpretation. However, as I read it today it struck me as having much more meaning than that. First the part which Jesus quoted:

The stone that the builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing,
and it is wonderful to see.

As I read this it struck me that it is talking about how we humans so often reject some person, or action, or thing that God intends as the key element of His work in this world. But God’s will will not be thwarted and He will make that item the cornerstone and give it a place of honor in His work. We may be convinced that we know better, that this “stone” is inadequate for the place of honor, but God will not listen to us. He will do what He will do and when we see what He has done, it is wonderful. No matter what we think of them, the one who comes in the name of the Lord will be blessed.

     THIS is the day which the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Won’t you please join me in doing so?

     All too often we forget that the poor are sometimes the source of oppression of the poor. It is wrong to think that the poor are any less guilty of wickedness than the wealthy. The key to overcoming wickedness is fidelity to the law and to justice. The wicked are empowered when people reject lawful behavior, but struggle when people embrace lawful behavior. The wicked may speak of justice and fairness, but all they understand is power. On the other hand, those who seek God understand justice and integrate it into their plans, even when they do not speak of it.