GOOD MORNING SIBLINGS!

Today’s readings are Ezekiel 31-33

Read today’s Bible readings on BibleGateway by clicking here

Rabbit Trails

Y’all, today I want to take a moment, step back from the Bible, and ask ourselves a very important question. :

What all has YHWH been showing us here? 

In the beginning of the Bible, we see that He is the creator and Father of all things. He then created and placed mankind here and set some very simple boundaries for us on how to behave.

Pretty much immediately, we defy Him.

So He told us again.

We defy again.

He told us again.

We defy again.

At this point, He essentially gathers us together, sits us down, and explains in great detail how we are to behave, even being so generous as to tell us the benefits to us when we listen to Him, and even why we are to obey Him. He clearly explains who He is as our Father and creator as well.

And then He goes on to give us a book that proves: 

Every Single Word He Says Is True.

Example after example.

Time and time again.

Over and over. He does not change.

And so here we are in Ezekiel. What is happening? More of the same.

Just take a moment to think over all that we have read, beginning in Genesis, and the cohesive, repetitive, nature of everything.

Throughout it all, YHWH has been – and always will be – constant. 

He has revealed His character to us time and again.

He is justice, wisdom, and righteousness in all things.

His words are eternally true.

There is a tremendous difference in our understanding of His nature when we devote ourselves to reading the entirety of His word. Most Believers today live off of piecemeal verses from here and there which they gather to support a certain topic of study or to fit into what they want to hear on any given day. When we do that, do you see how much we miss? Do you see the impact of what all we have cast aside? Do you realize, now, that we are dismissing the very words of YHWH and treating the Word that gives life as if it is of no importance to us?

So many say that we cannot know how YHWH will feel or react to any given situation, but is that really true?

Pay attention, as we continue to read, and as civilizations rise up in the Bible to go against Him in various ways.

As you read forward, knowing the foundational knowledge that the Father has given us, notice how often you know exactly how He is going to react. I mean, goodness y’all, He gave us books that even TELL us the future!

He is a God of patterns. He is predictable because He does not change. And He wants us to know Him, to know this about Him, and to understand, then, how we are to live and what will happen as a result of whether or not we choose to walk in His wisdom or our own. 

We can’t know how YHWH will react? We can’t know how YHWH will respond? We can’t know YHWH’s ways? 

Only someone who has never read YHWH’s word would say such things. We can know all of this because He wants us to know. And He has given us this book for that very reason.

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Let that sink in.

~~~~~~~~~~

And now for today’s reading.

In Ezekiel 32 when YHWH is decreeing what will happen to Egypt, pay attention to how some of these things bring to mind the nine plagues He struck them with generations before. Surely the tales of what happened were still very much known and part of their culture at this point, which would have made these statements all the more fearsome and ominous.

Ezekiel 33:7-9. Notice the personal responsibility we have when it comes to obeying YHWH in these verses. We are not responsible for the actions of others, but we are very much responsible for our own. Very much.

Ezekiel 33:11 As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live;

YHWH does not desire to judge and punish us, He WANTS us to turn from our ways, repent, and turn to His! How many times has He told us this again and again?

Ezekiel 33:12-16

12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. 13 Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die. 14 Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, 15 if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 16 None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live.

This is a significant passage (as they all are) but this is a good one to really digest. We may feel and think that we are checking all the boxes but in the end, those checked boxes won’t save us. We must repent, turn from our ways and turn to the Father’s ways. He may show mercy for a time, but I’d rather be in His Grace, as a person who is wholeheartedly seeking to walk in His statutes, than to rely on mercy of walking in my own way and hoping He doesn’t call me on it.

Ezekiel 33:17 Yet your people say, “the way of the YHWH is not just.” when it is their own way that is not just.

Something to ruminate on.

Ezekiel 33:24-26  “Son of man, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.’ Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: You eat flesh with the blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood; shall you then possess the land? You rely on the sword, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife; shall you then possess the land? 

Here are YHWH’s people, confident that He will surely give them the land by nature of who they are, despite their disobedience and the Father responds by pointing out their defiance. Before His very eyes, they are openly defying Him, going against His statutes and THEN think He will give them this land?

Personally, I read fire in the Father’s response.

We have a lot to consider today and I want to encourage all of us to take a step back and look at the patterns of YHWH and the information He has given us as a whole up until this point.

Each passage, each book, each time His glorious voices speaks there is wisdom that is relevant and meant for us.

We must be careful never to view the Bible as if it were speaking to someone else.

That statement is so important. I challenge you to write it on a note today and tuck it in your Bible. Your future self will thank you. ? When you do, post a photo of it in the comments in our group today as an encouragement to others. The body can always benefit from a little extra encouragement. 

May we receive each jot and tittle with thanksgiving and praise!we must be careful never to read the Bible as if it were speaking to someone else

Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21

We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!

May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!

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Christy Jordan
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