Sunday, August 30, 2009, 6:52 a.m. – I woke to this song:
The Greatest Story / AVALON
Some days your own resolve is strong
And other days you bend
it's two steps forward, one step back
and a stumble now and then
You wonder if you'll ever really make the difference
you've prayed that you will
Well, I know that prayer will be fulfilled 'cause
Your life woven day by day
is a new design of the glory God displays
on the canvas of creation
Through the poem of history
in the pattern of redemption
running through the tapestry
Your life in Christ can be
the greatest story ever told
You cannot see the hands of God
or feel the grace that flows
from Him through you to those you touch
In ways you'll never know
you cannot measure worth by human standards
That's always a lie
oh, you have to see through heaven's eyes how...
In the light of eternity
Standing face to face you will finally see
for the very first time you'll understand
your perfect place in the master plan and how...
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Ezekiel 6:
My Understanding: This was a prophecy against the mountains of Israel. This was against a nation as well as it was against the people of God. The people of God today are the church. So, translated to today, Israel is the church (spiritual Israel). God told them that he was going to destroy their:
I was thinking about these “high places” when I had this image of church buildings (physical structures) built on hills, some of them rather extensive in their amenities, in particularly a church that the Lord has often used to represent the church in the West. Church buildings can become idols. Church structures, organizations, amenities, denominations, theologies, etc. can become our idols. We can end up worshiping the structure and the leaders more than we worship God. God no longer dwells in buildings. He dwells in human hearts. The church is people, not buildings.
Idols can be anything in our lives that get most of our time, money, resources, energies and devotion. A mother of young children will have most of her time and energies extended to her children, but that does not mean that they are her idol. A job may require many long hours, but that does not necessarily equate that the job is your idol. Idols are heart issues. And, they have to do with choices we make. They have to do with who or what lords over our hearts and our lives – who or what we obey. They have to do with where our hearts are (see Luke 12:34: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”). Idols are what we worship.
Worship: “to love, admire, or respect somebody or something greatly and perhaps excessively or unquestioningly” (Encarta); “extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem - worship of the dollar” (MW Dict.).
God says that in judgment he will destroy our high places, our altars will be demolished, our incense altars will be smashed and he will slay our people in front of our idols. What we have made will be wiped out. And, we will know that He is the Lord! This is key! This is what it is all about. God is a jealous God. He wants us for himself. He wants us in intimate relationship with him. He does not want us to give our hearts to another.
My Zondervan NIV Commentary says this:
God said he would spare some (a remnant) and they would be scattered among the nations. They will remember him – how he has been grieved by our adulterous hearts, which have turned away from him, and by our eyes, which have lusted after our idols – other gods (lords). He says that at that time, the people will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices – revival! And, we will know that He is the Lord and that he did not threaten judgment in vain. God always includes in his pronouncements of judgment a call to return to him; a call to repent of our sin and a promise of hope of eternal life with him for those who do repent and who turn to the Lord. My commentary states: “The whole purpose of God’s judgment was to bring his people back to him.” Amen!
God told Ezekiel to strike his hands together and to stamp his feet and to cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the house of Israel. My Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary states here:
Certainly there are mixed emotions accompanying God’s judgments. We can be joyful over lives that are changed by God’s saving grace. We can be elated over people’s lives set free from bondage to sin, specifically to sins of spiritual adultery and to idolatry. We can rejoice that many people will turn from their sin and that they will return to the Lord and that they will know that God is the Lord!
At the same time, it will break our hearts to see the judgments of God come upon the people. We will witness plague, famine, the sword, loss of life, persecutions, imprisonments, starvation, etc. And, it will also break our hearts to see the sinful condition of God’s people, thus the need for God’s judgments. So, out of these judgments should come both joy and sorrow; relief and pain; victory and defeat. If only we had listened to the Lord. If only we had turned from our sins of adultery, then God would not have to bring his judgments. Yet, at this point, I feel as though it is inevitable. We are at the end of time and this is what must come.
I had this section previously marked in my Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary and I do believe that this is very important:
The Greatest Story / AVALON
Some days your own resolve is strong
And other days you bend
it's two steps forward, one step back
and a stumble now and then
You wonder if you'll ever really make the difference
you've prayed that you will
Well, I know that prayer will be fulfilled 'cause
Your life woven day by day
is a new design of the glory God displays
on the canvas of creation
Through the poem of history
in the pattern of redemption
running through the tapestry
Your life in Christ can be
the greatest story ever told
You cannot see the hands of God
or feel the grace that flows
from Him through you to those you touch
In ways you'll never know
you cannot measure worth by human standards
That's always a lie
oh, you have to see through heaven's eyes how...
In the light of eternity
Standing face to face you will finally see
for the very first time you'll understand
your perfect place in the master plan and how...
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Ezekiel 6:
My Understanding: This was a prophecy against the mountains of Israel. This was against a nation as well as it was against the people of God. The people of God today are the church. So, translated to today, Israel is the church (spiritual Israel). God told them that he was going to destroy their:
- High places – a temple or altar on a hill used in worship of false gods
- Altars – used in idol worship (II Chron 14:5: Lev. 26:30)
- Incense altars – used in idol worship (II Chron 34:4-7; Is 27:9)
- Idols – false gods; objects of extreme devotion (MW Dict.)
I was thinking about these “high places” when I had this image of church buildings (physical structures) built on hills, some of them rather extensive in their amenities, in particularly a church that the Lord has often used to represent the church in the West. Church buildings can become idols. Church structures, organizations, amenities, denominations, theologies, etc. can become our idols. We can end up worshiping the structure and the leaders more than we worship God. God no longer dwells in buildings. He dwells in human hearts. The church is people, not buildings.
Idols can be anything in our lives that get most of our time, money, resources, energies and devotion. A mother of young children will have most of her time and energies extended to her children, but that does not mean that they are her idol. A job may require many long hours, but that does not necessarily equate that the job is your idol. Idols are heart issues. And, they have to do with choices we make. They have to do with who or what lords over our hearts and our lives – who or what we obey. They have to do with where our hearts are (see Luke 12:34: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”). Idols are what we worship.
Worship: “to love, admire, or respect somebody or something greatly and perhaps excessively or unquestioningly” (Encarta); “extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem - worship of the dollar” (MW Dict.).
God says that in judgment he will destroy our high places, our altars will be demolished, our incense altars will be smashed and he will slay our people in front of our idols. What we have made will be wiped out. And, we will know that He is the Lord! This is key! This is what it is all about. God is a jealous God. He wants us for himself. He wants us in intimate relationship with him. He does not want us to give our hearts to another.
My Zondervan NIV Commentary says this:
God said he would spare some (a remnant) and they would be scattered among the nations. They will remember him – how he has been grieved by our adulterous hearts, which have turned away from him, and by our eyes, which have lusted after our idols – other gods (lords). He says that at that time, the people will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices – revival! And, we will know that He is the Lord and that he did not threaten judgment in vain. God always includes in his pronouncements of judgment a call to return to him; a call to repent of our sin and a promise of hope of eternal life with him for those who do repent and who turn to the Lord. My commentary states: “The whole purpose of God’s judgment was to bring his people back to him.” Amen!
God told Ezekiel to strike his hands together and to stamp his feet and to cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the house of Israel. My Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary states here:
Certainly there are mixed emotions accompanying God’s judgments. We can be joyful over lives that are changed by God’s saving grace. We can be elated over people’s lives set free from bondage to sin, specifically to sins of spiritual adultery and to idolatry. We can rejoice that many people will turn from their sin and that they will return to the Lord and that they will know that God is the Lord!
At the same time, it will break our hearts to see the judgments of God come upon the people. We will witness plague, famine, the sword, loss of life, persecutions, imprisonments, starvation, etc. And, it will also break our hearts to see the sinful condition of God’s people, thus the need for God’s judgments. So, out of these judgments should come both joy and sorrow; relief and pain; victory and defeat. If only we had listened to the Lord. If only we had turned from our sins of adultery, then God would not have to bring his judgments. Yet, at this point, I feel as though it is inevitable. We are at the end of time and this is what must come.
I had this section previously marked in my Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary and I do believe that this is very important:
Amen!!
