260 - "May We Be Caught Praying" Daniel 7-9

Our names.  

Our Acts of Faith.  

Our Decisions to Overcome Evil with Good.  

Our Moves to Owe No Man Anything But Love.  

What We Did With our Lives---and How Aware we were of our Sin.    Daniel 7:10

Oh may we be caught praying! "While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice." Daniel 9:21. We may never ever see an angel deliver our prayer, but we hold fast to the very Word of God for His Precious Promises are all "yes." And we wait in prayer.  Confessing our own sin.  Daniel pointed the finger at himself first.  He is dealing with what stirs inside of him---though pale in comparison to the depths of sin surrounding him. 

And the angel clarified: "At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved." Daniel 9:23.  And how the Promises and the Passion of being greatly loved just melts our hearts. 

This prayer life intrigues and invites.  Make me want to set a hundred Bell Tower alarms as reminders to pray.  

Oh Father, teach us to pray.  Every day, I say the "Our Father," hallowed be Thy Name.  Give us today our daily bread and forgive us like you do for the Daniels of the world who are so in touch with the darkness that lurks within---right smack dab in the middle of all the Goodness. Send your Mercy. Make us Good.  You Alone are Good!  We long for You, Our Father.  

PHOTO:  Watching the Texas sun rise in the sky. Thinking here about being "greatly loved" and what that really means for me today.

259 - "Leave The Stump" Daniel 4-6

                              

Leave the stump, bound with a band of iron and bronze. Daniel 4:15. Metaphorically speaking, the band of iron represented afflictions. There was hope that the stump might shoot forth back into life. That was my story a decade ago. Beth Moore shared this verse with me. It was a deep glimmer of hope in a very dark abysmal of a time. A verse about King Nebuchadnezzar who was a "monument of the power of Divine grace, and of the riches of Divine mercy." M.Henry He recovered from his madness. Recovered from his pride of forgetting God. "Whatever affliction God is pleased to lay upon us, may we have cause to bear it patiently, and to be thankful that he continues the use of our reason, and the peace of our consciences." M.Henry. The shoot sprang forth---that's me. 

I felt like I was about gone in 2006 January. The irons of affliction had done me in.

That summer, I started to sprout. 

Little by Little.

I came alive.

And that tree grew back again.

And I can now give shade to others once more. 

PHOTO: The stump.

258 - "Turn or Burn" Isaiah 1-3

                                                        

Ashpenaz went looking for skilled youth with a spotless record in Israel. You never know when you are living life when a knock may come on your door. Am I being faithful in the things I know, I do, I have. And Daniel makes history, not a show-stopper but a surrendered soul. May we be found faithful where we are.  

And here's a quote for all times, all moments: Dear King, we have no need to answer you in this matter of worshipping your gods with a little "g." Throw us in the lion's den. "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand." Determined---they will not serve or worship the king's gods with a little "g." Daniel 3:18.  

"And the hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them." Daniel 3:27. Blessed by the God of these 3 men.  And what this God did for these 3 servants made an indelible mark on all who watched, on all who hear 2,000 years later.  Isaiah 43:2 is true:  When you pass through the waters, God will be with you.  When you go through the fire, you will not be burned.  A metaphor of grace.  You will be taken care of.

Oh Father, When we read these beautiful stories of surrender and calm in the midst of horror, help us to walk in Your Ways, not the show-stopping celebrity world in which we live.  Whatever men may do to us, may we know You are with us.

PHOTO:  The sunset tonight.  Pondering what it means to really be alive.  To not miss the Grace of God in the midst of suffering.  To find His Presence there, here.

257 - “The Lord is There” Isaiah 46-48

“And the name of the city from that time on will be:

the Lord is there.”
Ezekiel 48:35

This prophet.  Ezekiel.

He paid such a dear price with his life.

All for God.

All in for the people.

That Redeeming Love would restore their lives

and they would build God's temple.

This prophet.

One commentary said:  Ezekiel's words possess "such spiritual beauties and excellencies which are beyond all praise."  Proving to successive generations what heavenly wisdom Ezekiel shared.  And it still holds true for each of us this day.  

Oh! that God would restore our lives to live for Him and not for ourselves 

or anything this world has to offer.  Oh! The Unsearchable Riches of Christ!  Redeeming Love.  How can it be?

PHOTO: It's an old faithful dog in the city where all the kids grew up. I can see them in the treehouse hurling balls in a dodge-the-ball game. The Lord was there in that city where we lived. In that backyard where we loved. 

256 “Live Low in My Own Life” Ezekiel 43-45

 

"And I fell on my face." Ezekiel 43:3.  What causes me to fall on my face?  I can think of times:  cancer, betrayal, loss, grave disappointmentsx, depression.  Seems like it is when something happens to me rather than what stirs within me.  Ezekiel saw a vision concerning what God would do to the people of the city---destroy them.  And the immense glimpse of suffering and shame overwhelmed Ezekiel with sorrow.  And he fell.  Facedown.

Oh! Ezekiel! We will meet you one day. We'll worship together with You this God you so adore. "I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And I fell on my face. And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws." Ezekiel 44:4

And here we go again. Overcome with awe! "The humblest posture of adoration and the expression of a holy awe." (M.Henry). Facedown. "The more we see of the glory of God the more low we shall lie in our own eyes." (M.Henry). And that thought explains to me how in the midst of my living life and being gravely offended, even this day, that I may make my ambition to find the glory of God and desire to live low in my own eyes. It's been a harrowing of a day and I really cannot share it with anyone, so I'll give it over to my God Who deeply cares. My roots have been twisted and turned.

And God charges Ezekiel to take extra care to observe with his eyes. A very careful observant learner. Ezek 45:5. Matthew Henry states a beautiful "In acquainting ourselves with divine things, we must not aim so much at an abstract speculation of the things themselves as at finding the plain appointed way of communion with those things, that we may go in and out and find pasture." Oh that we find pasture. Great peace have those who love God.

PHOTO: Father, help us find a gripping peace that won't let go of us.

255 - "When We Despair of Difficulties We Face ... " Ezekiel 40-42

                                                      

Ezekiel 40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me to the city." There is no mistake of the exact moment when he knew that God brought Him to that place. And our God has brought us to the place we sit this day. Dare we trust Him for more as we lift up open broken hands to His.  

This vision goes until the end of the book.  It's so hard to understand but we trust when we get to those rough patches, don't we?  Matthew Henry put it this way:  "Humbly search concerning it, get as far as we can into it and as much as we can out of it, and, when we despair of satisfaction in every difficulty we meet with, bless God that our salvation does not depend upon it, but that things necessary are plain enough, and wait till God shall reveal even this unto us." 

PHOTO:  Walking Galveston beach. Pondering how God's Hand is on our lives. Such mystery.                                  

254 - "Jealous For His Name" Ezekiel 37-39

                                     

And the Word of God came again to Ezekiel. I don't know that I've ever noticed how many prophecies came to this holy man who maintained justice and rightness before God.

And the Hound of Heaven pursues once again and forever.  Them and us.

Ezekiel 39:25 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name."

613 commands they had to obey.  How could they even remember them all.  No one could live them out every day.  Impossible.  The Jewish system and all its rules.  From 10 Commandments to over 600.  And God is moving to redeem.  Christ came.

Christ's invitation:  Come to Me.  Doesn't matter if it's just one rule.  Always breaking one.  Oh, that we live attached to the One Who can do something about all this weariness and woe.

Father, we are touched deeply by Ezekiel and his holy living and preaching and loving and prophesying.  You truly are the Hound of Heaven.  And You will never ever let us go.  Help us to know this day Your Holy Fire and Desire for each one of us.  You are jealous for me---as the song says.  May we sing it today!

PHOTO:  The Hound of Heaven comes.  From the days of Jerusalem to the days of hill country, He comes.

253 - "Set A Watchman Over Your Heart:" Ezekiel 33-36

Ezekiel was made a watchman over the country.  Ezekiel 33:7  .  Whether the response was positive or negative, Ezekiel went to serve.  For whom do I carry the burdens of this life?  These prophecies are to be chanted.  So that they may know that He is God.  This is Ezekiel's calling.  To warn sinners about imminent danger. 

"It becomes us to weep and tremble for those who will not weep and tremble for themselves."  Matthew Henry. mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain." Ezek 33:30.

Men care more about the temporary than the eternal when they overlook settling their sins with God. 

One commentary talked about how they set watchmen to guard their houses but not their hearts.  When their happiness or misery is at stake, Matthew Henry says:  "they are offended if ministers obey God and give faithful warnings; they would rather perish listening to smooth things." 

"Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice 

and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice."
Ezekiel 33:30-33

All that happens any normal week of our lives---the cutting, the distractions, the heart piercing words flung your way. Cast them His way---the gracious providence of God. PHOTO:  Watchmen.Taken in Israel.

252 - "Who Are You Like In Your Greatness?" Ezekiel 29-32

You will know that I am the Lord! 
How many times did God make that statement?
God is always seeking, always beckoning, always calling. 
And how long do we go without acknowledging this day that He is Lord!

God speaks to Ezekiel, once again.  Prophesy!
And how many times has God initiated a Word with Ezekiel?
I wonder if Ezekiel ever wavered, ever wondered? He is just like us. Always returning.

And God says to Ezekiel.
Ask this of Pharaoh:
"Who are you like in your greatness?" Ezekiel 31:2
What a telling question.
There is One Who asks the questions we must answer.
It is He.  The Lord. 
Be prepared to answer the good questions, the right ones.
To Whom else shall we go?  John 6:66

Dear Father, Do we remind You of Yourself?  Or are we so full of our own selves and our own plans that we cannot see out.  Fill us with Yourself.  Draw us in.  Draw us up. I Peter 4:1-2 says to "think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way." I lost a $600 opportunity 11/12/23 at 8am because I did not speak up fast enough.  I have been beating myself up---why? I wanted to have it my way and walk off with the $600.  God is weaning me.  

PHOTO:  A fisheye of Washington state.  Wondering about this greatness thing.  God has put in our hearts a measure of success.  May we never live for greatness but only for Him.  To God be the glory, the greatness. 

251 - "Keep Your Lamps Burning" Ezekiel 25-28

        

Oh Ezekiel, Son of man,
set your face and prophesy.
Ezekiel 25:1

Tell them:
Hear the word of the Sovereign Lord.
The people have desecrated the things of God.
They have clapped their hands/ stomped their feet
with malice in their hearts. But they will receive from God
what is due. 
May we be found faithful right where we type our stories.

In this celebrity society of ours.

We hallow looks and lavish lifestyles.

It's the very thing that can turn us away.

How arrogant to think we want success stories.

If we could just do it over again.

But our hearts are proud.

And we'd become proud again.

May we walk humbly this day before our God. the lamps burning for the Lord.
God led them there by Light.
God is there.
He is alive.
The Temple recognizes the God who is there.
We are The Temple today.
What God said is still alive.
And I am still here.
Eternal flames burn bright to say
Our God is Alive in me.
And He leads me out every single day.
Keep your lamps burning bright.

Exodus 27:21 -  From evening to morning, it's a lasting ordinance for the generations to come---keep the lamps burning before the Lord.  What does that mean for this one-year-old Ezekiel in this photo?\

PHOTO: The sky tonight. Set my face like a flint to walk in your ways. Your heart became proud
on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
because of your splendor." Ezek 28:17