SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/3/2015
5:50 PM
My Worship Time Focus: A Debased
People
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
22:23-27
Message of the
verses: “23 And the word of the LORD
came to me, saying, 24 “Son of man, say to her, ’You are a land that is not
cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ 25 “There is a conspiracy of
her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have
devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made
many widows in the midst of her. 26
"Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy
things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and
they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they
hide their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 "Her princes within her are like wolves
tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get
dishonest gain.”
As I look at the things that I have seen and continually
to see in this chapter my thoughts are that I would never in all of my life
want the Lord to say these kinds of things about me. I am seeing some things in my study on the 2nd
chapter of Revelation that Christ is saying to some of the churches that are
not good, but nothing like what is being said to these people of Judah who live
in Jerusalem. It truly is bothersome to
me to read about this.
Dr. Wiersbe points out in his commentary that in verses
25 and 27 the word “prophet” should be princes for he says that the word is
speaking of royalty and not ordinary prophets.
These princes were acting like animals, like lions and wolves that were
hungry for their prey. Sin will take you
further than you want to go, it will slowly and surely take control, and the
more you sin the more you continue to sin.
Psalm 32:9 says “Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no
understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.” Next we look at proverbs 7:21-23 “21
With her many persuasions she entices him; With her flattering lips she seduces
him. 22 Suddenly he follows her As an ox
goes to the slaughter, Or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool, 23 Until an arrow pierces through his liver; As
a bird hastens to the snare, So he does not know that it will cost him his
life.” Lastly we look at 2 Peter 2:18-22
which says “18 For speaking out arrogant
words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely
escape from the ones who live in error, 19
promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption;
for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the
defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become
worse for them than the first. 21 For it
would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than
having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22
It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO
ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in
the mire."” As I look at the blog
that I write and see which of the SD’s have been looked at I have seen that one
of the most popular SD’s is from January 14, 2013 and the title is “Sexual Sin
is Gradually Destructive PT-2” and is from Proverbs 6:25-33. I suppose to a man sexual sin can be the
hardest thing to stop doing for as we look in the Scriptures we will find that
sexual sins are found in many places. My
point in all of this is that once a person begins to sin and do things wrong it
can get worse very fast as it did for these princes that Ezekiel is writing
about in this section.
One would think that these princes would uphold the law
and set a good example for others to follow, but that was not the case, and the
more responsibility you have and fail by taking advantage of your position the
bigger the punishment will be. James
writes the following about teachers: “James
3:1 Let not many of you become teachers,
my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.”
Dr. Wiersbe finishes this section by writing “The people
of the land (Ezek. 22:29) were the prominent land-owning citizens (12:19),
often officers in the army, and they fell right in line with the princes and
priests. They oppressed the poor when
they should have aided them, and took advantage of the strangers instead of
welcoming them and helping them. But
everything they gained by their violence and abuse of power, they would lose
when the day of judgment arrived.” And
that day was soon coming as we will see.
2/3/2015 6:17 PM
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