Today’s Reading, Ezekiel 16-17
Focal Scripture: Ezekiel 16:5 “No one cared enough about you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. But you were thrown out into the open field because you were despised on the day you were born.”
Over my years of ministry I have come to the conclusion that I communicate better with people who are broken and unchurched. I have found that many religious people forget where they came from after being saved for a long time. They forget what their life was like and the direction they were headed. A sense of entitlement begins to creep in and for many takes over completely. However, lost people or new converts haven’t learned the skill of religiosity. They remember what it was like to be lost and how desperate they were to be saved from their pain. Conversations with people who think like that are meaningful and have no hidden agenda.
In today’s reading we see the Lord use a very vivid description of the nation of Israel. He explains how he found them as a child who was bloody and thrown out into the field. Nobody cared about them as a nation. Nobody loved them. They were actually despised by everyone else. However, God chose them, blessed them, and gave them everything they could have ever wanted. Then it goes onto explain how Israel had an affair with other nations and gods. They forgot who saved them and chose them. They were taken away by false promises and false hope.
Today’s reading is a powerful visual representation of salvation. The descriptive words demonstrate just how hated, dirty, and forgotten the people of Israel were before God chose them. We must know that before we came to Christ we were hated by the Lord. We were hated because of our sin. We were hated because our sin can’t be tolerated by a Holy God.
But…..
God doesn’t operate the way we do when it comes to his attributes. He not only hates sin and the sinner, he also loves the world to much he give us his son. You see God works perfectly in both ways of thinking. Our minds can’t comprehend that truth. God is just in hating not just sin but the sinner. While simultaneously loving us enough to provide a way out of our condition. You see the Lord seeks out those who are despised.
Just as the Lord gave the nation of Israel hope, he gives us hope as well. Right now, you have the opportunity to know and respond to Gods goodness. Right now you have the chance to seek out the Lord who wants to forgive you of your sins. Today is the day of salvation. If you are a believer we should never get over what happened to us at our conversion or we will become like Israel. We will give ourselves away to everyone and anything that shows us attention.
My challenge for you today is to always remember where you came from and never get over Gods amazing work of salvation. He seeks the despised and he also seeks us out to give us hope.
What do you choose today? Hope or something else.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading Ezekiel 18-20
