What a powerful prayer that Daniel is confessing for the whole nation. Then he asks God to act, not for the people but for Gods own great compassion. What a great reminder of the Gospel! We are saved by His work, grace, mercy and compassion…literally nothing of our own efforts!!!
It’s interesting that this is included in Gods revelation to us because, it is really hard to understand. Even Daniel gets a personal interpretation but he was still confused in the end. However, I find it interesting that God sends an angel to provide some insight…enough understanding to make it valuable for Daniel and for us. Lord, help me to trust that You will do the same for me, even when things are hard to comprehend…I want to trust in You!
Amidst the chaos Jesus is ushered in forever. That is such a relief that we know He is in control and we can trust Him!
Daniel lived in a way that made him stand out from all his peers. His life exemplified his faith and the power of his God. His trust in God in every avenue was unique and obvious to everyone around him. Lord, although I am not interested in the persecution side, I pray that people would recognize You in all of my actions!
Daniel had no imagination that this was his own ability, but consistently pointed to God! In the end God was praised and received the glory, not Daniel. This seems like a one off situation, and it is unique, but all of the gifts that God provides work the same way and should be treated as such. Lord, help me to reveal your glory as I use the gifts you have given me.
What a fascinating reminder of how intimately involved with our lives God actually is. I often take credit for my success yet this passage clearly points out Gods role in the success of Daniel and his friends. Lord, thank you for providing me the ability to do my work and ministry…please help me to keep You as a fixture of empowerment rather than claiming victory for myself…You alone have granted me any favor I experience. What a blessing from Your hand!!!
The end of this long confusing section of Ezekiel ends by naming the city “The LORD is there”…God with His people! What a contrast to the beginning of the book where they are in exile, separated from God because of their own decisions. What a mighty God who has a plan to restore relationship with us even when we actively run from Him.
The way God calls His people to embrace the foreigner is so much different that the popular mindset of American Christians today! Lord help me to fight against the cultural narrative of our day and see people as you see them. Help me to love all people as You would love them.
Ministers are examples to all Gods people and are called to a higher standard of living. Lord, help me to reflect Your glory!!!
All of this destruction, trials, desertion and death to achieve restoration of Gods reputation and His people’s proper thinking. It seems extreme to me, but God knows exactly what is required and doesn’t do more than that. Thank you Lord for Your patience and presence! Help me to live for You alone!!!
God is able to use any tool He wants to accomplish His work in His people. His goals in this chapter are identified as Exaltation, Sanctification and being intimate known…for the ultimate purpose of saving His people. It is obvious that God wants everyone to come to Him and experience the joy of His presence and provision. Lord, help me to be settled in You!
Gods plan to restore His people is encouraging and hopeful…they don’t deserve it, but He plans it anyway. We are just like them in that we are not worthy of His blessings, protection and love, but that is who God is!
What a beautiful picture of transformation from a heart of stone which doesn’t feel or move or even work as it should…to the real thing! Ready to live, and respond as it was designed. Lord, I need this renewal once again…my heart feels hard and unfeeling, heavy and lacking joy, cold and dead. Transform my heart to one filled with love for You, joy for all the blessings and a desire to pursue You.
5 times in these 15 vs God says to the descendants of Esau, you will know me. These are not the chosen people of God, but closely related…they knew all the history and all the ways that God had cared for and protected them. Of anybody on earth, they should also know God. So it seems like this reverence is what is expected even more from those people than any other, and he reminds them more often.
Lord, you have given me scripture so that I can know you even better than all the people of the Bible, help me to reverence you appropriately! I love you and want to be wholly devoted to you and surrender to you in everything!
This passage describes how the leaders of Israel have taken advantage of Gods people and how God will personally rescue them. But then there is a picture of how they will continue to suffer because of their own actions…yet in it all God still intends to bless them. What an amazing God we serve!!!
One sin is enough to require punishment, but also living Gods way brings righteousness.
A very public destruction is described by God for this nation that has been Israel’s enemy. There is very little to comfort in this passage if you are at war with God or His people…on the flip side, as Gods chosen son, what a comfort to know that God will stop at nothing to protect me. Lord, give me the faith to trust that You are at work and have my good in mind at every step of the journey!!!
This chapter tells about God warning Pharaoh by comparing how He dealt with Assyria, which was even more powerful than Egypt. It should have been a reminder that God is more powerful and should not be messed with, but rather surrendered to.
Lord help me to be fully surrendered to You in everything!
The message of Ezekiel is on repeat… God does not want to be misunderstood. He patently tells all people what they need to hear and why. I think He is just as patient today with me…I wish I didn’t need the message to be on repeat, but I clearly don’t learn the first time.
As God is working through the punishment of His people’s enemies, it is interesting that for Egypt, destruction is not the end. His plan it to return them to their land but prevent them from thriving and domination of their past. He cares for His enemies and His people.
Four times in as many verses, God provides rationale for his punishment of these nations. Throughout the entire book this phrase is repeated- “they will know I am the LoRD”. This is a God who wants us to know Him…He wants everyone to know Him! His children, His nation, their enemies, those who hate Him…His desire is that we all know Him and surrender to His Love.
Tyre as a nation was strong, powerful and literally had everything. Their strength came from trade and diversity because they had tamed the fierce sea…it finally swallowed them, all their riches and their pride. All that made them great became their downfall. We are no different…the things that make us proud pull us away from Jesus only to drive us to destruction.
Lord, help me to pursue You rather than glory, chase humility over pride and Your will over mine!
It is amazing to see that God is so personally invested in the punishment and destruction of this nation that was so opportunistic in considering the downfall of Jerusalem. It doesn’t seem like such a worthy offense…yet it communicates Gods care for His people…and He is just as jealous for us today!
God is punishing these four nations for participating in the destruction of Israel…and His motive all along is for them to know Him. Lord, You so clearly desire that we all know You and what a privilege it is, help me to lean into that each day!
God has a claim on everything in our lives and is able to use anything and everything to help us to see and understand who He is. Tragically, Ezekiel’s wife dies and God uses it as a lesson for all His people…and Ezekiel has no say. Yet through His suffering, He knows that God is with Him and is using him. Lord, help me to see You just as clearly and have confidence in You!!!
These are getting harder to read as it seems to be a message on repeat…stop worshipping idols, it is only bringing destruction. They must have needed the warning dozens of times because they were thick headed…or just very slow to be changed. I am like that at times, needing a thousand corrections before I hear what is actually being said…Lord, strengthen me to listen and follow You without reservation!
As any parent understands, God is willing to do anything to ensure His children know Him.
There is something about punishment that helps us to see clearly. The pain of it all, forces us to clear away all the lies and convenient excuses we use to follow our own desires. It forces us to see reality and our own true condition! Lord, please let me see these things clearly without the need for discipline!
We don’t usually expect our story to turn to a tragedy, we are looking for success and victory. But unfortunately, we are not the authors of our story…instead we are called to trust the Author and have confidence in His promises. Lord help me to trust You even when things are not going the way I expect.
God holds each person accountable for their own actions…what a blessing as that is hard enough for me to control…and even then, if I am not surrendered, I often fail to effectively control myself. Thankfully Gods grace extends to each person and we can accept His grace if we surrender to His will.
God specializes in the impossible and accomplishes His will against all odds. He is not constrained by normal circumstances or outcomes, but by His will achieves His desired result. God, help me to see Your path and walk in it willingly!
This same thing is one of the most insidious manners in which Christian’s sin. We take the blessings of God and credit them to our abilities and turn it into an idol…the idol takes over and we can reject God in search of more glory, more honor, more pleasure, more fame…
God allow my heart to be soft to you in humility and credit You wholly with all that you have blessed me. Please strengthen my resolve to point to You in every victory and every blessing!
God calls us to be faithful as we accomplish the work He called us to. He wants us to understand that He alone is God and the only one worthy of molding our will toward. Lord, help me to be malleable as I endeavor to be surrendered to You!
What an amazing description of how we knowingly submit ourselves to temptation when we are not walking by the Spirit. If we are thinking of how we may flirt with the desires of our flesh, our fall is inevitable and fully rests on our shoulders.
Lord help me to flee from getting close to the line and run into your arms!
It is impossible to read this book and not see that God really wants us to know Him, worship Him and follow Him. Lord, help me to do those things every day!!!
God has shown patience to his people for decades, but His message in this chapter is that he is no longer waiting…the time to pay the piper has arrived. Their sin will now be punished by God…with the intention of reminding His people that He is God.
Lord, help me to listen immediately and not need your punishment to see who You are and act like it.
I love that unity is the first step in the process of transforming the heart from stone to flesh. A signal that it was not just one heart that was solidly frozen to thawed…but actually completely replaces from one that is worthless to one that functions as it should. Lord, I need my heart of flesh, keep me soft, pliable and sensitive to your impulses.
Galatians 5 reminds us that if we walk by the Spirit we will automatically produce the fruit of the Spirit. In the same way the Spirit of God fills us (the new temple) and pushed out all pride and selfishness leaving room for nothing impure. Lord, fill me with your Spirit so that nothing unholy exists!
Obedience to God always seems like such an easy straightforward task…which in reality it is! But being surrendered to His plan enough to trust that it is best is the hard part. We so often think that there is another way, one that will be less painful, less scary, less embarrassing…but that way always leads to more destruction. Lord, help me to trust You only and reject my ways of foolishness!
This chapter sees the Lord pointing out the various ways that His people are bringing their idols into their lives and their worship…we get the impression that that are rejecting God and embracing other idols…even in His temple. Lord, please help me to see my own idols and areas that I seek to be filled up other than You alone!
Repeatedly the warning from God is that this disaster will come because of their rebellion, so that they will “know that I am the LORD”. He wants us to know, and acknowledge Him as king of our lives and the world…it is such an easy concept, but our desire to do what we want is so strong, it is hard to do! Lord, grand me the strength to put my own desires to death and follow you without a second thought!
In a list of evil that Israel had done we see all the ways they worshiped false gods…The last thing listed in vs 6 is their works. These were things that looked good but were in service of themselves, or idolatry altogether. What of my works for God are self focused or in service of something else?!? Lord, help me to see those clearly and lay them down!!!!
So many times I want to assign punishment or trials as the removal of protection of God. In other words, God doesn’t cause the bad, but sometimes allows it…it has been hard for me to read this section and continue with this idea…over and over God says that He will accomplish the destruction/punishment Himself…justly repaying the Israelites for their rebellion. I am not sure how to weave this into the theology I believe…Lord give me wisdom and confidence in You alone!
Ezekiel has been given some crazy task to act out this siege of Jerusalem and must eat defiled food, yet here God relaxes the requirements in an act of kindness. What a bizarre scene, yet God is at work teaching the Israelites the importance of obedience. Lord strengthen me to be obedient at every moment!
Every one of us is specifically created for the ministry that God has called us to. Ezekiel was intentionally made to be hard headed and he has an unblinking face of stone …perfectly prepared to be a prophet to people who will refuse to listen. What a blessing to know that God has prepared me to do the work he has called me to.
Lord, you have uniquely wired me to minister to people struggling and blessed me with a faith to trust even in the most challenging circumstances. You have also specifically allowed me to struggle to keep me dependent on You! Help me to live my life in a way that brings You glory!
God pursues His people even when they rebel and seem like a lost cause. What stands out to me here is that even the rebellious people will be impacted by His chase. They will not be able to ignore His obvious engagement of them because He is good, powerful and accomplishes all that He sets out to do. Lord, help me to see you instantly! Help me to love You and be surrendered in every part of my heart and mind…
This passage is crazy and depicts some really incredible vision that I don’t understand, but near the end we see that God is on his throne and is speaking to Ezekiel. What a blessing that God speaks to us even out of the chaos of the unknown that we face.
God sees and knows our suffering and trials, we are not alone even if we are the cause of our trial. What a blessing to be unconditionally loved and cared for by the most powerful and most loving being. We are blessed to know Him!!!
Although this disciple is extreme, it does not last forever. God has a specific intention and once that is complete, it is over. It is not forever and it does not change our identity…they were still called daughter. Lord help me to stay submitted to You always so that I can enjoy your pleasure rather than needing to be punished.
