I’ll Be There

“And whether they listen or fail to listen — for they are a rebellious house — they will know that a prophet has been among them.” — Ezekiel 2:5

Sometimes, particularly in dealing with a stubborn child who refuses to listen, parents want to throw up their hands in frustration and walk away saying, “Why am I wasting my time when my child won’t even listen to me?”

Our tendency in life is to look at a situation, figure out what’s wrong, propose a solution, and then attempt to see some results. When we see a problem, we want to fix it. It’s not enough just to diagnose the problem and leave it at that.

How strange it must have been, then, for Ezekiel to be tasked with ministering to the Jewish people even as God warns him that they may not even listen at all? Essentially, God asks Ezekiel to devote his life to the task of teaching the Jewish people how to be upright citizens in the kingdom of God . . . even while knowing that the entire endeavor may be for naught!

Indeed, imagine going to work and being given a project to which you are supposed to devote every waking hour for the next several years. Your boss tells you that you’ll be working all by yourself, day and night, pouring countless resources into finishing. But he tells you, before you start, that it may turn out in the end that the project is entirely pointless and will have accomplished nothing.

How many of us would accept such a task? Wouldn’t we all feel that such a job would be a waste of our time?

This is the importance of the final phrase in the verse. Even though God tells Ezekiel that the Jewish people may not accept his prophetic guidance, God stresses that, even so, “they will know that a prophet has been among them.” In other words, they will know that God cares about them – cares so much, in fact, that he has granted a human being the ability to be a divine messenger so that he can teach humanity what God requires of them.

The same is true for parents or anyone who worries that his or her actions are not producing results. Sometimes, the important thing is not that children listen to their parents, but that children simply know that their parents are there for them, and that their parents loves them. So too with our loved ones who need our help:  first and foremost, we need to make sure they know we are here to help, and ready to love.

That knowledge – in the long run – can be the biggest blessing of all.

http://www.holylandmoments.org/devotionals/ill-be-there

On Your Feet

“He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.’ As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.” — Ezekiel 2:1–2

One of the more troubling aspects of life is knowing that bad news can strike at any time. Although our daily lives are filled with blessings, both large and small, that allow us to recognize God’s love for us, sometimes bad things happen to us — whether it’s an illness, job loss, or death of a loved one.

The question then becomes how to deal with sorrow. If suffering is part of life, then it’s certainly important for us to think about how to deal with it.

This is where Ezekiel comes in. Before Ezekiel became a prophet, he was just another young man – from a family of Jewish priests – trying to find his way in a complicated world. In those days, serving as a prophet for the Jewish people would not have been easy. They were about to enter into one of the most difficult periods in their history, when they witnessed the destruction of the Temple and experienced exile into a foreign land.

In fact, when God came to Ezekiel and appointed him a prophet to the Jewish people, He warned Ezekiel that dealing with his countrymen would be difficult – nearly impossible:  “And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them . . .” (Ezekiel 2:6).

Ezekiel knew before he even uttered one word of God’s message to his fellow Israelites that this role would change his life, and not necessarily for the better.

And yet, just as God gave Ezekiel such a difficult task, he taught him the proper way to deal with suffering:  “Son of man, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you” (Ezekiel 2:1). No matter what happens, God told Ezekiel, a person can always keep his or her pride and dignity. As difficult as life may sometimes get, we can meet any challenge standing on our feet – making sure that we always do the best to cope with the situation.

And as we do this, as God promised Ezekiel, He will watch over us and help us.

http://www.holylandmoments.org/devotionals/on-your-feet

Who Do YOU Please? by Linda Hull

I think just about everyone loves a pat on the back for a job well done!  Affirmation when we do the right thing is such a bolster to the ego.  Praises from others provides acceptance and assurance.  The more praise we receive, the greater our confidence to pursue higher achievements.

It is no secret that praise is a great motivator.  Putting forth our best effort is taught in the Bible.  Consider Colossians 3:23: “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.  Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance:  for ye serve the Lord Christ.”(KJV)

Yet, the devil has taught us a lie.  That is, earning the praises of man is far better and somewhat easier than earning God’s praise.  If we live by our own standards, we will certainly meet our expectations for success.  However, we may find we have lost the approval of our LORD.

When Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, we would have assumed people who witnessed this miracle would have rejoiced and given thanks.  Instead, the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus because in their eyes, He had broken the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy.

They believed they were justified in their desire to kill Him, for the LORD told Moses, “Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD:  whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.”  (Exodus 31:15)

Much discussion followed as Jesus explained He was sent by God to do His work.  Jesus even explained He was God’s Son, carrying out the will of the Father.  His comments further inflamed their wrath, because to them, Jesus was trying to make Himself equal with God.

Even though they knew the teachings of Moses and the Prophets, they missed the fact that Jesus was the Messiah, God’s Son.  Their minds were closed to the possibility that God would allow healing on the Sabbath.

Instead of rejoicing in His miracles, they chose to find fault.  They were not going to honor Him as God’s Son, nor would they honor the miraculous healing He did.  Their blindness kept them from believing in Jesus and lost them God’s approval.

Jesus wrote a very interesting comment as recorded in John 5:44, “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?”

With these words, Jesus admonished the Jewish leaders.  They feared if they agreed with Jesus, they would be thrown out of the Temple, no longer allowed to worship there.  Their desire to appear righteous in the eyes of others overshadowed any desire to please God.

There is an important lesson in this account of the Sabbath healing of the lame man.  We often believe when the majority is in agreement and is accepting of something, whatever it is, it must be right.  People are frequently misled by what is said by people of influence.

Let us be reminded the crowd mentality exerts a great deal of influence over the individual, not necessarily in a good way.

“For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”  John 12:43

Our praise must come from our LORD.  His opinion is what counts.  If we are righteous in His eyes, and our works are pleasing to Him, then we will have the praise and affirmation we seek.

http://devotionalchristian.com/who-do-you-please/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DevotionalChristian+%28Devotional+Christian%29

Are You Following Your Own Whims? Or Are You Following the Spirit of God? by Mark D. Roberts

Ezekiel 13:1-23

The LORD God proclaims: Doom to the foolish prophets who follow their own whims but see nothing.

Ezekiel 13:3

We have seen before in Ezekiel that God holds the people of Israel accountable for their failure to honor him. Yet, he judges the leaders of Israel with particular ferocity because they did not faithfully teach the people the ways of the Lord.

Chapter 13 reemphasizes the misdeeds of Israel’s leaders, especially the prophets. The divine denunciation of the prophets begins in this way: “Doom to the foolish prophets who follow their own whims but see nothing.” “Follow their own whims” translates a Hebrew phrase that could be literally rendered “walk after their own spirit.” In their attempts at prophesying and in their daily lives, the false prophets of Israel did not follow the Spirit of God. Instead, they did as they wished and they prophesied what they wished. Thus, their visions were “worthless” and their divinations were “deceptive” (13:6). They saw “nothing” but claimed to be seeing God’s truth.

As we grow in our faith, our spirits become more and more aligned with the Spirit of God. Yet, we must always beware of how easy it is to project our whims onto the Lord. This can happen even with highly regarded religious leaders, who mistake the imagination for the leading of the Spirit.

How can you and I be people who faithfully represent God’s will, both in words and in actions? In part, this happens when we recognize our insufficiency and rely humbly on the Lord. Yet, will be truthful representatives of God if we devote our lives to walking after his Spirit. As Jesus put it in the Sermon on the Mount, we are to “desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). When we do, and when we live according to this desire day after day, we will be more attentive to the Spirit of God and our own spirits will become more like God’s own Spirit.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: As you think about your life, are there times when you follow your own whims without seeking the Lord? Do you ever sense a tension between your spirit and the Spirit of God? What helps you to seek the Lord on a regular basis and to be attentive to his Spirit?

PRAYER: Merciful God, I don’t want to be like the false prophets of Israel. I don’t want to seek my own whims and ignore you. I don’t want to be someone who thinks he sees your visions but is, in fact, seeing nothing.

Help me, dear Lord, to seek you above all else. Help me to discern the difference between your ways and my whims. Help me to walk in your truth so faithfully that my spirit becomes more and more like yours. Amen.

http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/are-you-following-your-own-whims-or-are-you-following-spirit-god