SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/27/2014
11:57 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The
Unfaithful Wife PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
16:15-34
Message of the
verses: Today we look at the second
of four sub-points under this main point of the “unfaithful wife.”
Israel committed a great sin (Ezekiel 16:15-34): “15 "But you trusted in your beauty and
played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on
every passer-by who might be willing. 16
"You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of
various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor
happen. 17 "You also took your
beautiful jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and
made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. 18 “Then
you took your embroidered cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My
incense before them. 19 "Also My
bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey with which I fed you, you
would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened," declares
the Lord GOD. 20 “Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne
to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so
small a matter? 21 “You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through
the fire. 22 “Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not
remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in
your blood. 23 “Then it came about after all your wickedness(’Woe, woe to you!’
declares the Lord GOD), 24 that you
built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square. 25 “You
built yourself a high place at the top of every street and made your beauty
abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your
harlotry. 26 “You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your lustful
neighbors, and multiplied your harlotry to make Me angry. 27 “Behold now, I have stretched
out My hand against you and diminished your rations. And I delivered you up to
the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are
ashamed of your lewd conduct. 28 “Moreover, you played the harlot with the
Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you played the harlot with them and
still were not satisfied. 29 “You also multiplied your harlotry with the land
of merchants, Chaldea, yet even with this you were not satisfied."’" 30
“How languishing is your heart," declares the Lord GOD, "while you do
all these things, the actions of a bold-faced harlot. 31 “When you built your
shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every
square, in disdaining money, you were not like a harlot. 32 “You adulteress
wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! 33 “Men give gifts to all
harlots, but you give your
gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from every direction for
your harlotries. 34 "Thus you are different from
those women in your harlotries, in that no one plays the harlot as you do,
because you give money and no money is given you; thus you are different."”
I have mentioned the following statement in earlier SD’s,
and this statement is found in many of Dr. Wiersbe’s books, but I have to
believe that the Lord put it into my heart as I had to learn the truth of it
the hard way; “As believers we are not to bless the gifts that the Giver gives
to us, but bless the Giver of the gifts.”
Israel got fat on the gifts that God gave to them, and instead of giving
thanks and blessing the Giver of those gifts, they began to worship the gifts
that He had given to them and thus making those gifts an idol, or should I say
idols. Paul writes the following in
Romans 1:21-25 “21 For even though they
knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile
in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to
be wise, they became fools, 23
and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of
corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the
lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored
among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” This is truly a sad set of affairs when this
happens.
Ezekiel writes about Israel not getting paid to be a
harlot, but paying others who practiced harlotry with her. He is speaking of all the times that Israel
would send money to countries like Assyria, and Egypt to help them get out of
trouble, when what they should have done was to trust the Lord to get them out
of the trouble that they were in, but first they should have confessed their
sins to the Lord and then asked for help which is what the story of the book of
Judges is all about, but in that book the trend continued to go downhill in
their commitment with the Lord.
We see the following, very famous verse, in the book of 2
Chronicles which showed Israel what they should have done, but failed to
do. “If my people, which are called by
my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from
their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin,
and will heal their land (KJV).”
Dr. Wiersbe concludes this section with the following
words “Believers today who live for the world and depend on the world are
committing ‘adultery’ in a similar way (James 4:4-6). The Lord desires and deserves our full and
complete devotion (2 Cor. 11:1-4; Rev. 2:4).”
Let us look at the three different passages that he speaks of by first
looking at James 4:4-6; and then 2 Cor. 11:1-4, and finally Rev. 2:4: “4 You
adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility
toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself
an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that
the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which
He has made to dwell in us"? 6 But
He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD,
BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."” “ 1 I wish that you would bear with me in a
little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. 2 For I am jealous for
you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to
Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. 3 But I am afraid that, as the
serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the
simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 4 For if one comes and preaches
another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit
which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted,
you bear this beautifully.” “’But I have this against you, that you have left
your first love.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: When we worship
the gifts instead of the Giver of the gifts we will always get ourselves into
trouble with the Giver of the gifts, and then He will be forced to discipline
us, but we must remember that even in His disciplining of us it is done because
He loves us.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Worship the Giver of the gifts.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Peter 1:5-6.
5 Now for this very reason
also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in
your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in
your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Ammon” (Judges 11:32). I have to admit that this was a very
difficult question that I did not know the answer to.
Today’s Bible
question: “Upon what judge did God ask
Samuel to pronounce judgment?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/27/2014 12:31 PM
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