- …and say: What was your mother? A lioness! Among lions she crouched; in the midst of young lions she reared her cubs. And she brought up one of her cubs; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men. Ezekiel 19:2-3 – In this passage the mother meant the kingdom of Judah and the cubs were the princes that came from her. What we see being shared is that the mother settled in amongst other lions and raised her cubs around them. This caused her cubs to learn vile ways to live and it became their downfall. Our passage was to open the eyes of the readers of the time as to the reality they were facing because of their and their king’s vile choices. We can learn the value of growing ourselves, and our kids, amongst the right group. A group that will teach us how to love others and follow God better, not to live in our sin. What groups have you settled down amongst? What about your kids? If you became the poster child for that group, following their ways exactly, would that be good for you? Would that make you more like Jesus? Let’s make sure we are settled in good places. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1083
- But the vine was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the east wind dried up its fruit; they were stripped off and withered. As for its strong stem, fire consumed it.13 Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. Ezekiel 19:12-13 – This passage is speaking of the city of Jerusalem and the people of Israel. As we have been reading in Ezekiel, we’ve been seeing how deep the rejection of God was within the lives of the people of Israel. God planted them, nourished them, and grew them, yet they turned to worship other gods. As a result, they were “plucked up in fury.” They were punished by being taken from their homes and led into captivity. A question that the Lord is asking the people is how much will it take to open your eyes that it’s your sinfulness that is bringing this on your head? This sort of question may need to be asked of us as well. How much is it going to take for God to get our attention that so much of the struggle we are facing is a result of our sinfulness? Note, there are many times where we will have to navigate a struggle in life and it has nothing to do with a punishment for a sin of ours. But if you know that there are some unholy ways you are living and at the same time is just seems like again and again there is difficulties arising in your story…have you put the two together? For while the ultimate punishment for our sin has been taken care of by Jesus on the cross, the repercussions of our sinful choices in life we still will have to endure. God will also allow us to feel said repercussions to open our eyes to the worthlessness of our sin. If then you know there is sinfulness remaining active in your story, today is the day to repent of such sin and begin living faithfully after the Lord once again. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2360
Daily DEVO 