- Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. Ezekiel 36:31 – When we see how good God is to us we’ll regret any time we gave to anything other than Him. Here in our passage God is wanting His people to be ashamed of their ways. For they have not turned to Him, but He still is going to restore them. He wanted them to see their wrong. God is also going to be good to us and we’ll to have the same feelings the people here would have. Regretting all our wrongs, trying to understand how God would be so good to us after all we did. We need to remember it’s because God loves us that He is so good to us. It’s not a result of our good lives that we receive all God has for us, we have it all because He chose to give it to us. We live good lives for Him as a thank you for the good we’ve already received from God. Allow the good you experience from God remind you that it’s because God loves you that you are seeing good. We’ve all messed up and we all have a God willing to show us love despite all that. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1100
- Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. Ezekiel 36:22 – At a quick glance I counted fifteen “I will’s” in verses 22 through the end of the chapter. God was sharing exactly what He was going to do in Israel and it was going to be beautiful. No longer was the voice of the Lord sharing the result of His wrath on sin, but what was to come as a result of His hand of blessing on His people. They would be made clean, they would be given His Spirit, they would be given plentiful harvest, they would be brought back to their land, and they would be fruitful in every sort of endeavor. Yet, as our verse points out, these blessings weren’t given to Israel because of a change of heart and faithfulness of Israel to God. No, the reason why such things were taking place was because God was moving on behalf of His holiness and His desire for His name to no longer be profaned. After seeing the sinful ways God’s people were living and witnessing God’s punishment on them, the world around them began to not see God as powerful, holy, and good. So God moved to reestablish His holiness in the eyes of the world. As God’s people today, let’s be declaring God’s goodness and holiness with our lives. When the unbelieving world around us sees our lives, our heart should be they see how holy the Lord truly is and be unable to dismiss God’s goodness in the lives of those who follow Him. Know God is going to work in ways to bring His name the most glory and establish His holiness in the eyes of the world. Let’s choose to live the sort of life that is partnering up with the work the Lord is doing. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2377
Daily DEVO 