(Ezekiel 25:1-17)
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against the sons of Ammon and prophesy against them, 3 and say to the sons of Ammon, ‘Hear the word of the Lord God! This is what the Lord God says: “Because you said, ‘Aha!’ against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into exile, 4 therefore, behold, I am going to give you to the people of the east as a possession, and they will set up their encampments among you and make their dwellings among you; they will eat your fruit and drink your milk. 5 I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels, and the sons of Ammon a resting place for flocks. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” 6 For this is what the Lord God says: “Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet, and have rejoiced with all the malice in your soul against the land of Israel, 7 therefore, behold, I have reached out with My hand against you and I will give you as plunder to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and eliminate you from the lands. I will exterminate you. So you will know that I am the Lord.”
8 ‘The Lord God says this: “Because Moab and Seir say, ‘Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations,’ 9 therefore, behold, I am going to deprive the flank of Moab of its cities, of its cities which are on its frontiers, the glory of the land, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim; 10 and I will give it as a possession along with the sons of Ammon to the people of the east, so that the sons of Ammon will not be remembered among the nations. 11 So I will execute judgments on Moab, and they will know that I am the Lord.”12 ‘The Lord God says this: “Because Edom has acted against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has incurred great guilt, and avenged themselves upon them,” 13 therefore this is what the Lord God says: “I will also reach out with My hand against Edom and eliminate human and animal life from it. And I will turn it into ruins; from Teman even to Dedan they will fall by the sword. 14 And I will inflict My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel. Therefore, they will act in Edom in accordance with My anger and My wrath; so they will know My vengeance,” declares the Lord God.
15 ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Because the Philistines have acted in revenge, and have taken vengeance with malice in their souls to destroy with everlasting hostility,” 16 therefore this is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am going to reach out with My hand against the Philistines and eliminate the Cherethites; and I will destroy the remnant of the seacoast. 17 I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they will know that I am the Lord, when I inflict My vengeance on them.”’”
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
God has given us a free will, and because mankind chose to bring sin into the world, there is death, evil and suffering. Even though people commit crimes with selfish and evil intentions, God can and does use these for good. Nothing happens without His knowledge or permission. And one day He will bring about perfect justice. Even though it often seems like the wicked get away with their crimes, we have to know and be confident in the fact that the Lord is sovereign, just and fair.
And while all of this is going on around us, or even while things are happening to us, in a personal relationship with the Lord, we can find healing and refuge in Him. Because Christianity is all about a personal relationship, the Lord wants us to be in communication with Him daily - all of the time - for everything! Because He loves us so deeply, He speaks to us clearly in His word, to save us, guide us, strengthen and equip us. And because He cares about us in every detail of our lives, He wants us to communicate back to Him in prayer - all of the time - for everything! This is why He has given all of His children His indwelling Holy Spirit! He cannot get any closer! He is already right here for us.
The question always is, how close are we to God, spiritually? Where is our heart, and where is our will? The crazy world will simply shrug and say "oh well, the heart wants what the heart wants", but this is just an excuse to continue going down the wrong path. It's far to easy to get sidetracked when we let our emotions make all of our decisions. But we can use our will to steer our hearts back to the Lord.
Just like in a marriage, love is a decision of commitment and an act of the will, and the two become one flesh! When we become believers, we receive the Holy Spirit of promise, and enter into an eternal relationship with the Lord! For all that the Lord has done for us, is doing for us, and will do for us, let us never forget our first love! As we put God first in our lives, what is first in our hearts will become evident in our actions, and then in our experiences and feelings will follow. It is the Lord and our godly love that should drive all of our decisions...
(1 John 4:7-19) Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us.
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