Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to
OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on
Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests
to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian
Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“And you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the
Sovereign Lord says about the Ammonites and their insults:’”
“A sword, a sword, drawn for the slaughter, polished to
consume and to flash like lightning! Despite false visions concerning you and
lying divinations about you, it will be laid on the necks of the wicked who are
to be slain, whose day has come, whose time of punishment has reached its
climax.”
“Let the sword return to its sheath. In the place where you
were created, in the land of your ancestry, I will judge you. I will pour out
my wrath on you and breathe out my fiery anger against you; I will deliver you
into the hands of brutal men, men skilled in destruction. You will be fuel for
the fire, your blood will be shed in your land, you will be remembered no more;
for I the Lord have spoken.”
Ezekiel 21:28-32
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
You may recall from the scripture passage in yesterday’s
devotion that the Lord had His prophet Ezekiel map out a path for the
Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar to follow. At one juncture, there would
be a fork in that path, one way leading to Ammon and the other to Judah.
What way would Nebuchadnezzar direct his people to go?
Well, after casting lots with arrows, consulting his idols,
and examining sheep livers, the Babylonian king went to Judah and carried out
an attack that would result in the nation and its holy city of Jerusalem left
in ruins and the Israelites hauled off into a seventy-year captivity.
Consider what the Ammonites must have been feeling. I’m sure
they took great pleasure in watching their rivals being completely decimated
and annihilated by the Babylonians, probably grateful that they weren’t the ones.
They probably believed they had dodged a big judgment bullet but as we find in
the closing verses of Ezekiel 21, they hadn’t. They just had to wait their
turn. Look again at our scriptures for today:
“And you, son of man,
prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says about the Ammonites and
their insults:’”
“A sword, a sword, drawn
for the slaughter, polished to consume and to flash like lightning! Despite
false visions concerning you and lying divinations about you, it will be laid
on the necks of the wicked who are to be slain, whose day has come, whose time
of punishment has reached its climax.”
“Let the sword return
to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your
ancestry, I will judge you. I will pour out my wrath on you and breathe out my fiery
anger against you; I will deliver you into the hands of brutal men, men skilled
in destruction. You will be fuel for the fire, your blood will be shed in your
land, you will be remembered no more; for I the Lord have spoken.” Ezekiel 21:28-32
Clearly, Ammon’s time had come for after God had dealt with
Judah and Jerusalem, He wasted little time to let the Ammonites know that their
turn had come. The sword of the Lord (aka the Babylonian forces), fresh off its
use on the Israelites, was now ready to strike the people of Ammon who would
end up in a place where they would be remembered no more. It wasn’t that the
sins of Ammon were overlooked or even more severe than the sins of the
Israelites. It’s just that God handles matters in His own time and in His own prescribed
way.
And this leads me to this day and the way we sometimes
choose to view the world around us, particularly when it comes to matters of
evil. Perhaps we assume the position of the Ammonites and look on with
satisfaction when we see other nations we consider wicked facing hardship or
difficulty, adopting an attitude that believes they are simply getting what
they deserve. But we usually do this without considering whether God will
direct His attention toward us, seeking to seek to deal with our nation’s sins
next while saying in essence, “Your turn!”
With this, ask yourselves this: IS it soon to be our turn?
Could the Lord rewrite the words of this scripture passage with the only change
being the substitution of your nation’s name in place of the Ammonites?
It very well could happen but it also doesn’t have to be
that way. For any nation could (and should) change course by rallying its
people to individually and collectively acknowledge their spiritual failings
before the Lord, repenting of their sins, and then committing themselves to the
cause of His righteousness, obediently following His word, will, and way by
choosing to live as Jesus did.
If a nation would do that, then the Lord has already spoken these
words from earlier in the Old Testament, words that contain hope, encouragement,
and promise for any country and its peoples:
If My people, who are
called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn
from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their
sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment