YEAR 2, WEEK 35, Day 7, Sunday, 3 September 2023

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Sunday, 3 September 2023:

Ezekiel 4:16 — Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem.
They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay.”

Ezekiel ministered to Jews on Babylon about the same time Jeremiah ministered to Jews in Judah, but both Ezekiel and Jeremiah found it impossible to convince either group that God would allow the destruction of Jerusalem.

“Today’s passage records some of the most drastic actions Ezekiel performed to impress his message upon the people. We read of the prophet, under the Lord’s direction, etching the city of Jerusalem on a brick and setting up siegeworks around it (Ezek. 4:1–3). Archaeological discoveries indicate that ancient Near Eastern peoples commonly engraved city plans on bricks, so that is likely what Ezekiel did. The prophet’s lesson was plain: God would send foreigners to capture Jerusalem and burn it to the ground.

Verses 4–8 describe how Ezekiel was commanded to lie down on his side in plain view of his original audience. First, he lay on his left side for 390 days to “bear [Israel’s] punishment” (vv. 4–5). Most scholars believe this represents the period from 976 BC, the approximate year in which the glory of the Lord entered the Jerusalem temple during Solomon’s reign, until Jerusalem’s fall in 586 BC. Israel’s idolatry received official court sanction under Solomon, whose foreign wives brought their false religions to Israel (1 Kings 11:1–8). Thus, Ezekiel’s action represented God’s charge against His people that their four hundred years of wanton idolatry merited their exile. After 390 days on his left side, Ezekiel lay on his right side for forty days (Ezek. 4:6–8). Ezekiel’s lying on his right side was likely symbolic not of forty years exactly but of one generation. An Old Testament generation is forty years long (Num. 32:13), so the prophet’s action revealed that the exile would last long enough for one generation of Jews to pass away.

Finally, Ezekiel 4:9–17 describes the meager diet the prophet was to eat while lying on his side, for twenty shekels is but eight ounces of food (v. 10). This depicts limited rations consumed during siege conditions, which Ezekiel’s actions demonstrated were soon to come for Jerusalem. The holy God was about to judge His unholy people.” (Ligonier Ministries)

What does it take for God to get your attention? Is there a place in your life where you remain in denial, where you have been ignoring God’s word, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the counsel of other Christians, and the evidence of circumstances? “As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’” (Hebrews 3:15) “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.” (James 1:22, 23) If you need to repent on a particular matter or take action towards a calling, do it today! Don’t delay another second – “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24)

Psalm 101:1-4 — I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music. I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.

The presence of God in our lives, the longing to grow closer to God each day, and the hope we have in Christ’s return should change everything about us, our attitudes, thoughts, actions, focus, desires, and preferences. Our greatest desire should not be merely to receive the blessings of God, rather to increasingly receive Him into our hearts, to know Him, our True Love, more and more each day and make Him known to others more and more each day — “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent…. that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:3, 21)

Today the Psalmist expresses his earnest longing and resolve not to lose focus on the Lord or his God-centered perspective in life; he expresses his desire to remain faithful and joyfully content in his genuine love for the Lord. Since this is a “psalm of David,” we can assume it is written within the context of someone burdened with great responsibilities, someone who understands how easily we can become consumed and troubled by the worries of the world and get out of step with the Spirit. We can learn much from the psalmist’s resolutions:

1. “I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music.” Trusting in the combination of God’s complete sovereignty and perfect love, resting securely in the unfailing love and provision of our Heavenly Father, despite our circumstances, and trusting in God’s perfect, ultimate justice as we live in a clearly unjust world should create in us an unshakable love, joy, and peace which transcends all human understanding. However, it can be easy for us to become distracted by the worries of the world and start to become crisis-centered rather than Christ-centered. In those times, God calls us to “rejoice,” or ‘joy again.’ In times of crisis, we must pray with thanksgiving and praise the Lord. Praising the Lord, regardless of the day’s challenges, is a choice we make that both proclaims our faith and strengthens our faith in the sovereignty, love, faithfulness, mercy and justice of the Lord. Today and every day, sing out! Praising the Lord in song is not something we should do in church only; it is something we should do continually, an expression of the constant melody in our hearts –

• Ephesians 5:18-20 — …be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Psalm 104:33 — I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
• 1 Corinthians 14:15 — What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.
• Acts 16:25 — About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,
• Psalm 71:8 — My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.

1. “I will ponder the way that is blameless.” One of the psalmist’s resolutions was to continually meditate upon the ways of God. We should do the same –

• Joshua 1:8 — This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
• Philippians 4:4-8 — Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
• Psalm 1:2 — But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
• Psalm 119:15, 97 — I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways…. Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

1. “Oh when will you come to me?” Like the psalmist, we should desire, anticipate, and prepare for the coming of the Lord with great enthusiasm –

• Philippians 3:20-21 — But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
• Titus 2:11-14 — For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

1. “I will walk with integrity of heart within my house.” Like the psalmist, in our love for the Lord, we should resolve to walk in integrity (truthfulness and wholeness) with the Lord and in public as we glorify Him through our words and deeds. Here, the king makes the point that he cannot rightly lead others if he is not first following God. If we are not following the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus, we are only leading others astray –

• Psalm 25:21 — May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.
• 2 Corinthians 8:21 — For we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of man.
• Acts 24:16 — So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.
• 1 Peter 2:12 — Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
• 1 Peter 3:10-12 — For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
• Colossians 3:9-10 — Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
• 1 Timothy 1:5 — The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

1. “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” Follow the psalmist’s example and resolve to disregard everything that is worthless, keeping your focus on the Lord always —

• Psalm 119:37 — Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
• Hebrews 12:2 — Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
• Matthew 6:22 — “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light….
• Proverbs 21:4 — Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin.
• Matthew 7:3 — Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
• 2 Corinthians 4:18 — As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
• Psalm 119:18 — Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
• Job 31:1 — I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

1. “I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.” Resolve not to follow the deceptive ways of the world but rather the ways of God –

• Romans 12:9 — Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
• Romans 12:2 — Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
• 1 John 2:16 — For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.
• 1 John 2:15 — Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
• Luke 16:13 — No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

1. “A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.” Seek purity in your heart and, again, have nothing to do with evil –

• Matthew 5:8 — “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
• Psalm 119:9 — How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
• Colossians 3:5 — Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:22 — Abstain from every form of evil.
• Romans 13:14 — But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
• Hebrews 13:18 — Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.
• 2 Corinthians 7:1 — Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
• 1 Peter 1:22 — Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart….
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3 — For this is the will of God, your sanctification.

Psalm 101 reveals king David’s meditations as he sought to lead his people well and his understanding that he could not live well and lead well unless he loved well, with integrity (truly and wholly). Likewise, how well we live depends on how much we love. The more we appreciate God’s love for us, the more we will love Him; and the more we love Him; the more we will love others. Inversely, as we endeavor to love others, the more we learn to love God and appreciate His love for us – “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him…. “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:16, 1 John 4:12) Jesus said the greatest commandment was, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27) Today, we see David’s longing and resolve to love from his heart and soul (“Oh when will you come to me…. I will sing of steadfast love”); with all his strength (“I will walk with integrity….”); and with all his mind (“I will ponder…. I will know nothing of evil). What is your resolve today?

Proverbs 3:5-6 — Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

So much of life comes down to this simple (yet internally challenging) thing – trusting God enough (faith) to obey Him in the moment, regardless of your personal viewpoint, and trusting Him with the outcomes (hope), regardless of your estimations. You won’t trust Him enough to obey Him when it is counter to your instincts unless you truly believe in and abide in (live in) His love and faithfulness as well as His perfect Sovereignty. (Proverbs 3:3, 4) Trusting in God means you don’t believe you need to sin to get what’s best for you but rather that obedience to Him aligns you with His perfect will for you, which is beyond your understanding but perfect nonetheless.

• Ecclesiastes 12:13 — The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Proverbs 3:7 — Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

R. C. Sproul wisely said, “The Word of God can be in the mind without being in the heart; but it cannot be in the heart without first being in the mind…. I cannot read God’s mind, however I can read God’s Word…. We need to be very careful to go to the pages of the Scripture to learn about God’s will and the leading of the Spirit, and not simply to listen to the popular teachings of the Christian subculture in which we live…. To be a Christian is to be a theologian — a student of God and his will. The church is where believers should be nurtured in the practice of correct theology. The contemporary disdain for theological content and emphasis on self-image and emotions were not shared by the apostolic church…. The issue for Christians is not whether we are going to be theologians but whether we are going to be good theologians or bad ones…. [However] We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work.”

We must study God’s word in order to be ready to obey God’s word. However, many use Bible ‘study’ as a form of procrastination – reading more rather than doing more. This is akin to the person who is constantly looking for a better workout or diet but never exercising or controlling their food intake. Our problems are not usually caused by a lack of knowledge; they are usually caused by disobedience and infidelity to God. Even Christians who rarely open their Bibles understand enough about God’s demands for forgiveness, honesty, generosity, etc, to either fulfill them or defy them. God’s commands are not hard to understand, but they require a heart that truly desires to obey them, a commitment to discipline and self-control that is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Pleasing God requires humility, a proper fear of the Lord and then consistently choosing to “turn away from evil,” and to turn closer to God. What will you choose today?

• Isaiah 45:22 — Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.
• 1 Thessalonians 1:9 — For they… report… how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God.

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 3 September 2023: Today, meditate upon Psalm 101 and consider how you might resolve to remain focused on the Lord daily to increasingly know Him and make Him known.