Monday Morning Cover to Cover

I love reading blogs on Monday mornings when someone writes about how God spoke through what their pastor said in Sunday’s sermon. So, I’ll tell you what so touched me yesterday. My new pastor spoke about 2 Cor. 7:10. The kind of sorrow that God wants, it makes people change their lives and heart. Godly sorrow over ways we’ve tried to make life work. It so resonated in my heart. Something shifted that makes me want to change. It was a beautiful Sunday I’ll remember for a long time.

As I did my bible study this week reading the chronological Bible readings, what lingers with me is the story of Ezekiel and the dried up bones. Over and over, God calls Ezekiel “son of man” to show that he is like any other man. The hand of the LORD was on Ezekiel and He set him down in a valley of dry bones. “Son of man, can these bones live?” Prophesy over them and tell them to hear the Word of God. God will cause breath to enter and dry bones shall live. So Ezekiel prophesied and from dry bones an exceedingly great army stood to their feet. I can hardly imagine Ezekiel witnessing that. Dried up bones and our hope is lost. “You will know that I am the LORD when I open your graves and raise you from your graves.” Ezekiel 37:3-14. You shall live. Hallelujah! For A Savior who rose from the grave and raises us up to stand as an army who fights together the beautiful fight of faith. Come alive, o army of God. Stand up. Take hope. There’s hope for me in what I face this day, this moment.
Another passage that gripped me was Jeremiah 30. Why do I cry out over my hurt? My pain is incurable. My guilt is too great. My sins are flagrant. Jer 30:15. I’ll restore you and heal your wounds because you think that no one cares. 30:17. I’ll have compassion on you. 30:18. I’ll make you draw near to ME and you shall approach Me for who would dare of himself to approach Me…and I will be your God 30:22. You survived the sword and found grace in the wilderness. When you sought rest, the LORD appeared from far away and said: “I have loved you with an everlasting Love, therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you.” 31:2-3 With weeping you shall come back to Me and I’ll make you walk in a straight path in which you shall not stumble 31:9.
Oh, that I would not lift up my eyes to idols of security, comfort, prestige, approval, entitlement, validation. Ezekiel 33:25. “From all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my Word” - Ezekiel 36:25-27. Oh how I want to cling to this truth! Hold fast to it! Let my beautiful God purge me. It’s the kindness of our God that leads us to repentance. Romans 2:4.

Ezekiel went on to say in 34:2-4 Ah, shepherds who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? Ezek 34:2. Find and feed: the weak. the sick. the injured. the strayed. the lost. (Makes me think of Jenny Hope going to help people at the gas station, at Wal-Mart. We don’t have to look very far, do we?) And I’ll end with the beautiful verse from the Holy One…I Myself will seek you out and rescue you from the places where you have been scattered on a day of darkness. Ezekiel 34:12. “I Myself will be the shepherd of my sheep and I Myself will make them lie down. I will seek the lost. I will bring back the strayed. I will bind up the injured. I will strengthen the weak. I will feed them in justice.” Ezekiel 34:15. Hallelujah!

May God make this sheep lie down today and lead a quiet life, my new life in Austin. May HE bind you up, strengthen you, and feed you in justice. Have a great holiday today!