“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them
among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in
the counties where they have gone… I will gather you from the nations and bring
you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back
the land of Israel again. They will return to it and remove all its vile images
and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit
in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of
flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will
be my people, and I will be their God”
(Ezekiel 11:16-20, NIV).
(Ezekiel 11:16-20, NIV).
The people of Israel had a
long history of rejecting the Lord. God sent judges and prophets to warn them
and foreign kings to punish them. And they reformed… for a while. When the
threat was gone, Israel always fell back into their old patterns of sin.
Now in exile, the people
finally understood what they had done. But
could they ever get back again? Could they reform themselves enough that God
would have them again?
The answer, of course, was
no. Sinful people cannot improve or clean themselves up well enough to be
received by God. But as God revealed thru the prophet Ezekiel, it doesn’t start
with us. Even when His people were under punishment, God was “a sanctuary for them.” He will gathered up the scattered
and brought them home again. Most important,
He will changed them from the inside. He will gave them undivided hearts of
flesh to replace their cold, dead hearts of stone. God, do this to us.
We can’t reform ourselves
either. We don’t have to. God gives us new hearts in Christ, calls us His
children, and brings us home. God, do this to me. Amen.
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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