Noah, Daniel & Job; Ezekiel 14-16

May the mumbling commence!

There was a country so defiled that even Noah, Daniel and Job could not save it from the plagues that the Lord would send.  They could only save themselves.  These statements describe the country of Judah in the days of Ezekiel.  The Lord would send famine, wild beasts, the sword, and disease (Ezekiel 14:12-20).  From the looks of the impending disaster, it looked as though no one could survive.  What were the sins of Judah?  Read from Ezekiel 16:

"'But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his.  You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. Such things should not happen, nor should they ever occur.  You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.  And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them.  Also the food I provided for you – the fine flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat – you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign Lord. 

And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough?  You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.  In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood. (Verses 15-22)

"'How weak-willed you are, declares the Sovereign Lord, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute!  When you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, because you scorned payment. 

You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!  Every prostitute receives a fee, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.  So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you. (Verses 30-34)

“‘Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom.  You not only walked in their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they.  As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done. 

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.  They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. (Verses 46-50)

Judah, who was saved by the Lord as a vulnerable baby girl, used the gifts that the Lord had given her to make idols that copied the nations around her.  She even went to the pawn shop so that she could pay for the designs to make her idols. 

Nothing of the Lord was sacred to her.  She became arrogant and overfed; she had no concern for the poor and needy.  She was haughty and detestable to the core.  It is no wonder that neither Noah nor Daniel nor Job could save her.  Even for them, there is a glimmer of hope.  Read from Ezekiel 14:21-23 –

"For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments – sword and famine and wild beasts and plague – to kill its men and their animals!  Yet there will be some survivors – sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought upon Jerusalem – every disaster I have brought upon it.  You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign Lord."

A remnant of sons and daughters would escape the wrath.  And, through this time of wrath and destruction, these survivors would learn to fear the Lord, return to Him, and leave behind the idols of their forefathers. 

If there is hope for Judah in that day, surely there is hope for our country! 

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out

The Supreme Surgeon; Ezekiel 11

May the mumbling commence!

Ezekiel was sent to prophesy destruction at the beginning of his time as a prophet.  He found it distressing when the words of the Lord came true before his eyes.  Read about one instance of this from Ezekiel chapter 11:

Now as I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell facedown and cried out in a loud voice, "Ah, Sovereign Lord! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel?" 

The word of the Lord came to me:  "Son of man, your brothers – your brothers who are your blood relatives and the whole house of Israel – are those of whom the people of Jerusalem have said, 'They are far away from the Lord; this land was given to us as our possession.'  

Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.' 

Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.' 

They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols.  I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.  Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. (Verses 13-20)

We see, once again, the power of DABAR – the power of the spoken word of the Lord.  Ezekiel spoke the word of the Lord and Pelatiah fell dead.  Ezekiel fell facedown in fear and trepidation.  Ezekiel asked the question, “Can anyone survive the wrath of the Lord?”

God reminded Ezekiel why the destruction an impending exile was going to happen – Judah had wandered far from the Lord.  So the Lord would make them wander in exile.  But God would continue to provide sanctuary for the exiles in the far-flung countries that they would go to.  In fact, God would eventually bring back Judah to the Promised Land.

Exile was the painful tool of the Lord to bring the people back to Him, to implore them to remove their idols.  Within these people, God would create a new heart of flesh – rather than the heart of stone that reflect the idols that humanity had created.  The Law of the Lord – the word of the Lord, would be on their hearts; and rightful relationship would be restored between the Lord God and His people.

Exile and destruction are the tools of surgery to remove sin.  They cut and hurt and maim.  They will leave scars (as anyone who has undergone surgery can attest).  But, in the hands of the Supreme Surgeon, exile and destruction will lead to life eternal.

Comfort us in our time of uncertainty!

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out  

Sins are Like Cockroaches; Ezekiel 8

May the mumbling commence!

Sins are like cockroaches.  If you see one out in the open, there are at least a thousand that are hidden away.  In Ezekiel 5-7, the Lord had been promising the people of Judah a time of unparallel wrath and anger.  Ezekiel must have been trembling in his sandals.  God even asked him to use a sword to shave off all his hair to use as a sign – a third of his hair he burned, a third of his hair he took outside his model of Jerusalem and struck with the sword, and a third he scattered to the wind.  Ezekiel only tucked a few strands into his garment for safe keeping.  Talk about the sacrifice of the faithful prophet!  It would have been deflating to do this and have the people not listen and ask for a repeat performance!

Then God lifted up Ezekiel (by his newly growing hair no less!) so that he might see the evil that Judah was doing – her sins.  First God took him to the north gate of the Temple and had Ezekiel look north.  There stood the idol that was provoking the Lord’s jealousy.  Tsk, Tsk!  Right out in the open!  But remember what I said earlier about sins being like cockroaches?  The Lord told Ezekiel that there were more detestable things than this (8:1-6).

The Lord also took Ezekiel into the inner court, where men had put the sanctuary to their backs and were worshiping the rising sun.  Later the Lord returned Ezekiel to the north gate of the Temple, where he saw women mourning the god Tammuz (8:14-16).  All of these things were being done brazenly, out in the open.  What detestable sins lie hidden?  Read the heart of Ezekiel chapter eight:

Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall.  He said to me, "Son of man, now dig into the wall." So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.” 

And he said to me, "Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here."  So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and detestable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel.  In front of them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising. 

He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, 'The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.'"  Again, he said, "You will see them doing things that are even more detestable." (Verses 7-13)

And Ezekiel dug into the wall.  Where else would he find the sins that are hidden?  Sins are just like cockroaches.  Even those elders who wished to keep a facade of faithfulness were secretly worshiping all the idols that were out in the public eye.  They thought that the Lord had abandoned them and that the Lord did not see their sin.  How foolish they were!  How foolish we are sometimes when we think that are sins are hidden if no other person knows about them!

And wait!  There’s more!  There are things even more detestable than these.  Read from the end of Ezekiel chapter eight:

He said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually provoke me to anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose!  Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them." (Verses 17-18)

Ezekiel had seen the things – both the public and the hidden sins – that were being committed in the Temple.  And God asks Ezekiel, “Are these things trivial to do in this place of the Name of the Lord?”  Of course not!  But there’s more.  They fill the land with violence.  Then Ezekiel had seen the fuel for the fire of God’s wrath.  God was finally going to allow Judah to reap what they had sown.

Yes, sins are like cockroaches.  Give them a foothold in your secret life and eventually they will invade your entire household.  They will become evident to others.  May we learn from this lesson from our spiritual ancestors.

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out

A New Definition of Success; Ezekiel 1-3

May the mumbling commence!

At the beginning of Ezekiel, God makes Ezekiel an offer that most people would like to refuse.  In fact, most people during Ezekiel’s day did refuse; and that was the problem.  For all that Ezekiel could see, the mission that God sent him on had no chance of succeeding.  And, then, God redefines success for Ezekiel and all of us.  Success is being faithful to God’s call in our lives.

In Ezekiel chapters two and three, the recurring phrases are: speak to them whether or not they listen and do not be afraid of them.  Would Israel listen to the words of the Lord spoken through Ezekiel?  Read the words the Lord spoke to Ezekiel about this in chapter three:

"Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.  You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel – not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.  But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate.  But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are.  I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house." (Verses 4b-9)

Lovely!  They would not listen to the Lord, so he sent a mere mortal.  No wonder Ezekiel sat for seven days speechless and overwhelmed.  After those seven days, God gave Ezekiel a new measure for his success.  Read it below from Ezekiel 3:16-19 –

At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me:  "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.  When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.  But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.

God made Ezekiel a watchman.  It was Ezekiel’s duty to speak the words of the Lord to all people – wicked or righteous – and watch the effect that the Lord would have on the person.  If Ezekiel was faithful in speaking the words that the Lord put on his lips, Ezekiel would be saved.  If he refused to speak, then the blood of both the wicked and the righteous would be on his head.

Ezekiel must speak and watch.  But it is the Lord that will affect any change.  Ezekiel was not held accountable for the change in other people.  Ezekiel was held accountable for being faithful to God’s call in his life.

It is no different for us.  God does not hold us accountable for successfully reaching people and bringing them to Jesus.  God does hold us accountable for speaking the Good News to everyone we find in our path.  Even when the prospects seem less that favorable, let us speak the Good News.  Even when speaking the Good News would bring fear of hurt or pain or death, let us speak the Good News.  Do not be afraid.  Listen to God, and follow His path.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

When Prophets Collide; Jeremiah 27 & 28

May the mumbling commence!

What happens when prophets collide?  It depends which prophet has sought to be on the Lord’s side.  In the first days of the Babylonian exile there was not agreement among the prophets – all of whom claimed they spoke the word of the Lord.  How do we decide who to believe?  Do we go with the majority?  Going with the majority would have been a dangerous thing.  Read from Jeremiah 27 and 28:

Early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:  This is what the Lord said to me: "Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck.  Then send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.  Give them a message for their masters and say, 'This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Tell this to your masters:  With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.  Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him.  All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him. 

If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the Lord, until I destroy it by his hand.  So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or your sorcerers who tell you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.'   They prophesy lies to you that will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I will banish you and you will perish.  But if any nation will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the Lord." '" (27:1-11)

Jeremiah was one prophet who prophesied serving the king of Babylon among a multitude of prophets who prophesied rejecting servitude to the Babylonian king.  Yes, majority in this case did not rule.  Sometimes, the Lord speaks in the sole voice of one true prophet.  In chapter 28, we see the collision of Jeremiah and Hananiah:

In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people:  "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.  Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon.  I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,' declares the Lord, 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'" 

Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord.  He said, "Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the Lord's house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon.  Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people:  From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms.  But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true." 

Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it, and he said before all the people, "This is what the Lord says: 'In the same way will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.'" At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way. (Verses 1-11)

Though the present majority of prophets proclaimed a coming peace, the actual majority of prophets throughout time had prophesied war and disaster and plague.  These evils are almost always a given among humanity.  But the prophets who proclaim imminent peace will be judged true only if their prediction comes true. 

Indeed, Jeremiah wished the words of Hananiah would come true, but Jeremiah had already seen the Lord’s handwriting on the wall. 

Bottom line: Beware of prophets who bring a message that you want to hear – especially when everything in the current situation argues against it.

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out

Hypocrisy in the Mirror; Jeremiah 12

May the mumbling commence!

Why do good things happen to evil people?  Why do false prophets prosper?  Jeremiah complained and lamented about these kinds of things in chapter twelve.  Read verses 1-4 below:

You are always righteous, O Lord,

when I bring a case before you.

Yet I would speak with you about your justice:

Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

Why do all the faithless live at ease? 

You have planted them, and they have taken root;

they grow and bear fruit.

You are always on their lips

but far from their hearts. 

Yet you know me, O Lord;

you see me and test my thoughts about you.

Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!

Set them apart for the day of slaughter! 

How long will the land lie parched

and the grass in every field be withered?

Because those who live in it are wicked,

the animals and birds have perished.

Moreover, the people are saying,

"He will not see what happens to us."

Yes, sometimes, we see hypocrites among us and wonder why God does not judge them.  We wonder why they prosper.  To our eyes, it seems that God has firmly rooted and planted them so that they are bearing fruit.  Even as we rail against these perceived injustices, we must realize – like Jeremiah – that we cannot hide our thoughts from the Lord.  Let us embrace our self righteous attitudes and thoughts before the Lord so that they may be purged.  Purge them so that we may see and understand our own parts in hypocrisy.

When we can see and understand our own parts in hypocrisy, then we can begin to understand the effects of our sins on everything around us.  Our sins not only affect us and all the people around us but they also affect the natural world.  The land lies parched and the fields are withered.  Even the animals struggle to maintain their life in such an arid time.  Here in the Great Plains, we need only to keep our eyes open as we move about our settings; and we will see these effects that we are having on our environment. 

Is it all due to our sins?  That thought is unlikely.  Nevertheless, it would be folly to believe that we have no guilt in the equation – with the massive size of our global carbon footprint, all to sustain our ease of living. 

Help us, O Lord, to be content so that we may share with others and transform them to our sisters and brothers.  Help us, O Lord, to care for this beautiful creation that You have made.  Give us the wisdom to know how we can help sustain our planet so that it will be as beautiful for our children and grandchildren.  May we remember that all healing comes from You.  Help us be attentive and humble to Your call in our lives.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Living on a Prayer in Exile; Jeremiah 29

May the mumbling commence!

In Jeremiah 29, we find the key to living as an exile in a hostile and foreign land.  It was not what the people wanted to hear.  They were not going home anytime soon.  Read from verses 4-9:

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.  Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.  Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."  Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.  They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the Lord.

The message was simple.  Settle down.  Live fully.  And hardest of all: seek the peace and prosperity of the city.  Pray for the city of your exile because your welfare is tied up with it.  It seems that there were some prophets in exile who were preaching rebellion and an imminent return to Jerusalem and Judea.  God spoke through Jeremiah to tell the people in exile that these prophets were NOT speaking for the Lord as they claimed.  God did not send them; they were prophesying lies.

False prophets are not only in the time of Jeremiah.  They exist today as well.  How do we tell the false prophets from the true ones?  It is imperative that we follow the true and ignore the poor.  Jesus said that we would recognize true and false prophets by the fruit of their labor (Mt 7:15-23).  Does what they say come true?  Who is gathering in the fortune and fame – God or the prophet?  Is the prophet only saying what we would most like to hear?  Too often true prophets are a tough pill for people to swallow.

In the 1 John, we discover that the spirits can be tested by seeing which spirits name Jesus as Lord (true ones!) and which spirits curse the Lord Jesus (false ones).  It is often difficult to tell.  I believe the base line or the thread that goes through the entirety of the Bible is God’s enduring love and patience with people.  Jeremiah strikes this very chord a little later in chapter 29.  Read from verses 11-14:

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

Yes, God’s love endures even through our unfaithfulness.  The Lord always leads His people back to the Promised Land – eventually.  Our Lord is a powerful and living God.  He does not answer to our beck and call.  Our God is neither a genie with wishes to grant us nor is our God a microwave God with instant answers that we most desire   But His designs will be accomplishes in His time.  Unlike humanity where we are not sure if intentions will be carried out (intentions are often been noted as paving the way to hell), God’s intentions are guaranteed to happen.

God always answers our prayers, but His answers are not always what we expect.  Sometimes I believe that God says no or not now.  Sometimes I believe that God answers prayers in ways we do not expect, and we miss the answers because we are not open to looking for the way God speaks to us.

Let us seek the prosperity and peace of our country, knowing that we are living into the promise of God’s kingdom here on earth.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out