May the mumbling commence!
There is hope in exile.
There is hope because God cannot fail to be faithful to the promises
given to us. Read from Ezekiel chapter
eleven:
Then this message came to me from the Lord:
"Son of man, the people still left in Jerusalem are talking about
their relatives in exile, saying, 'They
are far away from the Lord, so now
he has given their land to us!'
Therefore, give the exiles this message
from the Sovereign Lord:
Although I have scattered you in the countries of
the world, I will be a sanctuary to
you during your time in exile. I, the Sovereign Lord, will gather you back from the nations where you
are scattered, and I will give you the
land of Israel once again.
When
the people return to their homeland, they
will remove every trace of their detestable idol worship. And I will give them singleness of heart and
put a new spirit within them. I will take away their hearts of stone and give
them tender hearts instead, so they will obey my laws and regulations. Then
they will truly be my people, and I
will be their God. But as for those
who long for idols, I will repay them fully for their sins,
says the Sovereign Lord."
(Verses 14-21)
Indeed, sometimes the Lord seems far away from us when
we are in times of exile. Don’t believe
it. It’s not true. God is always with us.
God is our sanctuary.
We need nothing else… no building… no plot of land… no particular
city. God is our sanctuary.
And God will gather us back… back to the land of promise…
to the Kingdom of God. And justice will
be served. Peace will reign.
Purge us from our idols, O Lord! Grant us singleness of heart. Put a new spirit within us. Graft into us tender hearts so that we might
reflect the tender compassion and mercy and grace that we receive from You.
May we remember and obey Your Word. Obedience – that’s the key to the kingdom of
heaven. May it be so in our lives, O Lord. May we accept the hope in death to new
life. May we not attempt to prevent it
like our spiritual ancestors once did.
Read from Matthew chapter twenty-seven:
The next day – on the first day of the Passover
ceremonies – the leading priests and Pharisees went to see Pilate. They told him, "Sir, we remember what
that deceiver once said while he was
still alive: 'After three days I will be raised from the dead.' So we request
that you seal the tomb until the
third day. This will prevent his
disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he
came back to life! If that happens, we'll
be worse off than we were at first."
Pilate replied, "Take
guards and secure it the best you can." So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to
protect it. (Verses 62-66)
Those who deceive expect others to be guilty of
deception. So we make plans… plans we
are sure will defeat the plans of others… even God. Seal them off! Our plans are working just fine. There’s no need for change.
Change our hearts, O God. May we see hope in the exile that we live in
this world.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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