The Bridge is Out

 

We thought we were headed for the airport, but God had other ideas.  On the way to the airport to fly back home from the beach, there is a narrow, one-way bridge.  While it was a little cloudy and rainy, it certainly wasn’t a tropical storm or anything to cause any real concern.  Except for the fact that the ocean was especially turbulent on one side of the bridge and sea surge was making it unpassable.  We thought we were going home that day but apparently God had other ideas.

 

Proverbs 16:9

A man’s heart plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.

 

Things to think about:

·       God’s ways are not our ways.  We think we have a plan, only to see it thwarted or delayed for unforeseeable reasons. 

·       While this is probably a very incomplete list, here are some of the reasons God may be directing us in a different direction:

o   To protect us

§  We see this in the story of Balaam in Numbers 22:33 -  ^“The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.”

o   To prove our love for Him

§  Job 1:8-12 - And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?  Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”  And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

o   Our enemy is active

§  1 Thessalonians 2:18 -  Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us.

o   To learn to trust Him more

§  Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

o   To wait for His perfect timing

§  Genesis 17:17,19 - Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. 

·       When have you seen God put up a stop sign or roadblock to your plans?

o   If it is a time in the past, how did it ultimately work out?

o   If you are going through one of those times now, what is God teaching you?

·       Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.

It's Not Fair!

 

Is this not the most classic kid argument ever – “It’s not fair!” (turns out, a lot of us grown-ups invoke it too). Whenever there is something happening that we don’t like, that isn’t convenient, or otherwise conflicts with what we want, our blanket defense is, “it’s not fair.” As is so often the case, this argument has been around for a long, long time.

 

Ezekiel 18:25 - “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?”

 

Things to think about:

·       I used to think the word fair wasn’t in the Bible until I ran into this passage.

o   Is there anything going in in your life right now that doesn’t feel fair?

·       In this case, the Israelites thought that God’s judgement was passed on from father to child, or in some cases, the sin of a child reflected back on judgement to the father.

o   Some folks believe that being part of a good family or being a member of the right denomination / organization qualifies them for God’s approval (or the converse, “I’m part of a cursed family/culture, etc.”)

o   Sometimes, we might carry a guilt burden that mistakes we have made are irrevocably passed on to our children. 

§  Does this resonate with you?

o   If you happen to be struggling with this, let’s just say that God makes it abundantly clear in chapter 18 of Ezekiel, this is not true.

§  Ezekiel 18:30 – “Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways.”

§  Personal responsibility is a key to God’s justice system.

·       So, what is that God requires of each person?

o   Ezekiel 18:30-31 – “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.”

o   How do we get this new heart and spirit?

§  Repent – acknowledge that God is right and that we have made mistakes.

§  Then act on your conviction by “turning from all your transgressions” and “casting away from you all the transgressions which you have committed”. There is a very active sense to this by “casting away” – throw them off like you would a venomous spider crawling on you!  Oh, and “all” means ALL.

·       Ezekiel 11:19-20 –  ^“Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.”

o   John 3:3 - Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

§  If you have been born again, in what ways do you see how God has given you a new heart and a new spirit?

·       Ezekiel 18:31-32 – “For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore, turn and live!”

o   2 Peter 3:9 – God “is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

·       You know what’s not fair?

o   That in Jesus, God has spared no expense to ensure your eternal salvation

·       Philippians 2:6-8 - Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, He made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    He humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

 

 

God's Ringtone

 

Do you have special ringtones for family and friends?  As soon as you hear the first note, you know exactly who it is that’s calling you.  How can you know when it’s God calling you to do something?  Many people have said something like, “I just wish He’d call me on the phone, then I’d know for sure!” For the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel, God worked in his life in four distinct and dramatic ways that were unmistakably His ringtone.  These notes may sound familiar to you: Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength.

 

Ezekiel 3:10 - And He said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you.”

 

Things to think about:

·       When God calls you to do something, He equips you in everyway that you will need.  In Ezekiel’s case, he had been called by God to preach judgement to the Israelites.  Several times He says to Ezekiel, “You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.”

o   We aren’t responsible for the outcome, that’s God’s business.  Our role is to obey.

Heart

·       Ezekiel was going to need an extra dose of courage

o   Ez. 2:6-7 - And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. 

o   We see every day, the open hostility the world has to God and His Word.  But this should not deter us.

 

Strength

·       Ez. 2:1-2 - He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.”  As He spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet…

o   We won’t get into all of it here, but if you read Chapter 1 and get a picture in your mind of what Ezekiel saw, you’ll quickly realize why he needed help getting up!

o   Are you too tired, too old, too afraid to go where God has called you?  If He has called you, He will give you the strength to go.

Mind

·       We already know that God wants to renew our minds (Romans 12:2).  We also know that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from God.

o   For Ezekiel, it was even more dramatic than that – “And He said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He gave me the scroll to eat. (Ez. 3:1-2)

o   He literally put the words Ezekiel was to say in his mouth!

§  And we need to constantly feed on God’s word too

o   Matthew 10:19-20 – “…do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say,  for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

Soul

·       God endowed Ezekiel with a new character, one designed to combat the stubbornness He knew Ezekiel was going to encounter

o   Ez. 3:8-9 - But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint.

o   I’m not sure what Ezekiel’s personality was like before but God changed him into the man he needed him to be at that time.

What is God calling you to do?  

·       Do you feel inadequate to the task?  That’s probably because you are!

·       But like Ezekiel, God will give you everything you need to accomplish His purpose for your life.

Your Prescription is Ready

 

Jesus is known by many names including The Great Physician.  He has given us a diagnosis called sin that, if left untreated, leads to eternal death.  However, even when we have been healed from that dire outcome, we still have remnants of the disease in our system.  How we deal with our chronic condition makes all the difference. Let’s look at it from two sides – when we self-medicate and when we follow the Doctor’s orders.

 

Proverbs 23:20-21: Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,
 for drunkards and gluttons become poor,
    and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

 

 

Things to think about:

·       When we are lonely, tired, depressed, angry, hungry, etc., we can be tempted to take matters into our own hands.  This self-medication frequently takes three forms:

o   Food

o   Alcohol/Drugs

o   Sex

·       Each of these can makes us feel better in the moment but can come at a very high cost, both physically and emotionally

o   Food and Alcohol

§  Proverbs 23:20-21 - Do not join those who drink too much wine
    or gorge themselves on meat,
 for drunkards and gluttons become poor,
    and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

o   Alcohol

§  Proverbs 20:1 - Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler;
    whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

o   Sex

§  Proverbs 23:27-28 - for an adulterous woman is a deep pit, and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
Like a bandit she lies in wait and multiplies the unfaithful among men.

·       It’s not hard to see that “there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death”

·       God’s Prescription

o   His Word

§  Matthew 4:4 - Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

o   His Spirit

§  Ephesians 5:18 -  Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit

o   His People

§  Genesis 2:18 - The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

§  Proverbs 17:17 - A friend loves at all times,
    and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

·       God’s Way is Better

o   1 Corinthians 9:27 - No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

§  V.25 - We do it to get a crown that will last forever

 

God's Etch-a-Sketch

 

Do you remember the old-time toy, the Etch-a-Sketch? You used two knobs to draw/doodle on it and when you were finished, you could just shake it a few times and it would erase whatever you had done.  We all have done things we’re not especially proud of and wish we could just shake it like an Etch-a-Sketch and make it go away.  Thankfully, God has one for your life and mine and it’s called Forgiveness.

 

Hebrews 8:12 - They’ll get to know me by being kindly forgiven,
    with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.

 

Things to think about:

·       Just like on an Etch-a-Sketch, there are two knobs we can turn: One is our Attitude, and the other is our Actions 

o   When our Attitude is not good we draw a picture full of envy, lust and pride (1 John 2:16)

o   When our Actions aren’t what they should be, we draw a picture full of selfishness, anger, slander, etc. (Eph. 4:31)

·       We all do stupid things that we either immediately or later regret.    

o   Some of us are walking around carrying a big load of guilt about mistakes made in the past

·       BUT, when we do blow it, and ask for forgiveness, the Bible says in 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

o   Romans 8:1 – “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”

·       God’s Etch-a-Sketch is called Love and it has two knobs too and they’re called Grace and Mercy

o   Ephesians 2:4-5 – “ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

·       He is drawing a beautiful portrait that can never be marred or erased

o   Hebrews 8:12 – “…with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean”

·       How does knowing that God has forever wiped the slate of your sins unburden you from feeling guilty?

o   How does that empower you to shake the Etch-a-Sketch of someone else who may have hurt you in the past?

o   Ephesians 4:32 - Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.

Who God Is

 

At the beginning of the new year, it seems appropriate to bring our attention back to the very core of our faith, God Himself.  While that may sound simplistic, it is far from simple!  It’s vital that we recalibrate on who He is and why we worship Him.  Below are seven traits or aspects of His being and position.

 

1 Timothy 6:15-16 – God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, Lord of lords who alone is immortal and lives in unapproachable light whom no one has seen or can see. To Him be the honor and might forever. Amen.

 

Things to think about:

·       God:

o   Is blessed

o   Is the only Ruler

o   Is the King of kings and Lord of lords

o   Is immortal

o   Lives in unapproachable light

o   Has been seen by no one

o   Is deserving of honor and might

·       Focusing on these building blocks of who God is helps us to clear out the noise and to appreciate anew His power and majesty.  For me, it provides the proper context against which to measure my problems and my pride.

o   How does focusing on these qualities help you regain peace and comfort?

o   Like me, does this passage create a renewed sense of humility in you?

·       Does one of these seven traits stand out to you more than the others?  If so, which one and why?

·       How does meditating on His nature affect your outlook for today, this month and this year?