Turn

But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot out your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they shall soon come home. See now, I am for you; I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown; and I will multiply your population, the whole house of Israel, all of it; the towns shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt; and I will multiply human beings and animals upon you. They shall increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I will lead people upon you—my people Israel—and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance. No longer shall you bereave them of children. Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, ‘You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children’, therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, says the Lord God; and no longer will I let you hear the insults of the nations, no longer shall you bear the disgrace of the peoples; and no longer shall you cause your nation to stumble, says the Lord God. (Ezekiel 36:8-15, NRSV)

When it seems like we are cast away and God is not there, He is.

He has been with us all the time. And when we reorient our world, God’s blessings seem to flow ever more presently and more abundantly in our lives.

Ezekiel paints the picture of the people of God being blessed and having over flowing children, and animals and an abundance of life giving supplies! God says He will turn to them. In their sin God is with them, but is turning away, but because of His love He does not disengage…

You see sin and God can not be together, so God turns away from us, but never leaves us. He is always right behind us to catch us and hold us when we turn to see Him.

God’s justice

Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?’ Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? And you, mortal, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not save them when they transgress; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, it shall not make them stumble when they turn from their wickedness; and the righteous shall not be able to live by their righteousness when they sin. Though I say to the righteous that they shall surely live, yet if they trust in their righteousness and commit iniquity, none of their righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die’, yet if they turn from their sin and do what is lawful and right— if the wicked restore the pledge, give back what they have taken by robbery, and walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity—they shall surely live, they shall not die. None of the sins that they have committed shall be remembered against them; they have done what is lawful and right, they shall surely live. (Ezekiel 33:10-16, NRSV)

If the wicked turn and repent of their wickedness then their wickedness will not be their downfall.

If the righteous rely on their righteousness and sin, then that sin will be their down fall.

So where is the justice? If the wicked can just turn away from their acts and be accepted, but the righteous messes up once, and they are not accepted? That just doesn’t seem fair. It’s not how I would want it to go down.

But Ezekiel starts by saying that God has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked”. God wants every one to live! You see this passage lays out clearly what Jesus came and told the Pharisees and the scribes what the law said. It is not by works that you are saved. If the righteous depend our their righteousness to get them salvation they will fall. And if the wicked trust in God and give up their self centered ways then they can be saved.

God’s justice is based in His mercy that none should die! So live in the grace that He gives you and cling tight to Him and trust not in your own deeds, but trust in the Lord!

out of the depths

A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;  my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities. (Psalm 130, NRSV)

Have you ever felt like you were all alone and the world was closing in around you?

Darkness pervades the day, and it seems like nothing ever goes your way?

I know from personal experience that in those moments it is hard to see, hear, or remember that God is walking with us. It is hard when we feel like we have lost control and hit the bottom. But when you are laying on your back as far down as you can go and you reach up and scream for God to come help you, you will have His hand. He will be there.

When you hit rock bottom, all you can do is look up and cry out, and when you do, Jesus will be there to hold your hand and tell you He is with you.

So cry out to the Lord and hold fast to His hand, because He won’t let go of yours.

everlasting light

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will appoint Peace as your overseer and Righteousness as your taskmaster. Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, or your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended. Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land for ever. They are the shoot that I planted, the work of my hands, so that I might be glorified. The least of them shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the Lord; in its time I will accomplish it quickly. (Isaiah 60:17-22, NRSV)

How many times a day do you turn on a light?

Flip a light switch?

We in the western world take light for granted. We can at any moment walk into a room, flip a switch, turn a know, clap our hands and we get light.

But image if electricity was not readily available. Many this winter have lost power and gone several days, if not weeks without it… If the sun and the moon were your only sources of light…

God is here promising the people, His people, that they will never be in darkness, because He is their light. He is the source of how they will see. He is the source of their illumination!

Is God your source of illumination? Is a light for your path and a guide on your journey?

If He is you will never walk in darkness again!

Strength

For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14, NRSV)

Where does your strength come from?

I admit I like going to the gym to walk on a treadmill or along a track, maybe to do zumba or aqua zumba, but strength training is not my thing!

I don’t like pumping up. I like doing fitness classes, step and walking, but then where does my strength come from? Now it is true walking and fitness classes do work your muscles and will build muscle over time, but is that the strength mentioned in Colossians?

We are strengthened by the fact that we know Christ and have been saved by His grace and mercy. We get our strength to live life and to see beyond the pain and sorrow because of the strength that He has and has given to us. Through the strength of Christ we will be able to endure all because He is always with us. Christ strength is sufficient for us!