Psalm 95

WEEK   25                                           Psalms 95

WEDNESDAY  Reflections

Let's worship God but let's not be like Israel who first worshipped and then disobeyed. God is so good but when we turn our back on him there are consequences. For the people who came out of Egypt, they missed out on going into the promised land. I don't know what promised land God wants you to take or what it looks like for you but it will be good, so let's remain faithful to the shepherd of our soul so we can see it.

Psa 95:1-11
(1)  O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
(2)  Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
(3)  For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
(4)  In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
(5)  The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
(6)  O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
(7)  For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
(8)  Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
(9)  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
(10)  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
(11)  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

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Jonah 2

WEEK   25                                               Jonah 2

TUESDAY  Reflections

Some have said that you have to hit rock bottom before you look up. For Jonah, it was a different bottom; it was the bottom of the ocean in the belly of a fish. Jonah's prayer was answered. He was delivered, but what a deliverance being vomited up by a fish. Disobedience brings consequences. Jonah now relented and promised God he would go to Nineveh.

Reminder to self: obey God, don't run away.



Jon 2:1-10
(1)  Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,
(2)  And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
(3)  For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
(4)  Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
(5)  The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
(6)  I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
(7)  When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
(8)  They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
(9)  But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
(10)  And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

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Jonah 1

WEEK   25                                             Jonah 1

MONDAY  Reflections

“Jonah was a prophet, Oo-ooh!, but he really never got sad but true...” sing the vegetables in the Veggie Tales movie Jonah. The story has a lot of silly stuff happening in it, but this song nails it. Jonah was a prophet, and it seems he never did get it. Jonah did get it. that God could show mercy, and he never wanted that to happen.

 

In the first chapter, Jonah, who later confesses God was the Lord of the land and the sea, tried to run from God's call by going on the sea. This is as smart as jumping into the ocean to escape sharks. In the defense of his thinking, it wasn’t like staying on the land was going to help him any better. However, he should have known there wasn’t anywhere he could run to.

 

Though Jonah was not an example of what a prophet should be, I am amazed to see God using Jonah’s actions to bring people to Him. We see at the end of chapter one, as Jonah is being swallowed by a great fish, the sailors are in revival (calling out and making vows to God).

 

God can even use disobedience, though that doesn’t save the disobedient from trouble.

Jon 1:1-17
(1)  Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
(2)  Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
(3)  But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
(4)  But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
(5)  Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
(6)  So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
(7)  And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
(8)  Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
(9)  And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
(10)  Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
(11)  Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
(12)  And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
(13)  Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
(14)  Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.
(15)  So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
(16)  Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.
(17)  Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

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Ezekiel 6

WEEK   24                                            Ezekiel 6

SATURDAY  Reflections

The prophecy of chapter 6 are the words that describe the actions of chapter 5. God makes it clear he has been patient, but the time of patience is over, and judgment is coming. God had warned from the very beginning of the nation that judgment would come for God to show he keeps his word. Judgment has to fall, confirming that God is the Lord of all, but also to show God’s people that He is the one who could help them. 

Eze 6:1-14
(1)  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
(2)  Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
(3)  And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.
(4)  And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
(5)  And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.
(6)  In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
(7)  And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
(8)  Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.
(9)  And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
(10)  And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
(11)  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
(12)  He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.
(13)  Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.
(14)  So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

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Ezekiel 5

WEEK   24                                            Ezekiel 5

FRIDAY  Reflections

Now God is using Ezekiel's hair as an object lesson. A third burned in the model town he has made, a third cut up by a sword, a third thrown to the wind speaks of the places Judah and the people of Jerusalem will suffer and die. A small amount of the hair is set aside, and not destroyed. This last refers to the remnant God is going to save from destruction.

 

If you see a mostly bald and beardless man in those days and you had to wonder what happened. I say mostly because a sword can't cut facial hair or the top of the head perfectly. Now Ezekiel has another opportunity to share God's prophecy with the people. Some might think, I don't want to hear what the prophet is saying but, I believe,  morbid curiosity was going to force people to ask, and then they would hear the truth.

Eze 5:1-17
(1)  And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
(2)  Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
(3)  Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
(4)  Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
(5)  Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
(6)  And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
(7)  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;
(8)  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.
(9)  And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.
(10)  Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.
(11)  Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
(12)  A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
(13)  Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.
(14)  Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.
(15)  So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
(16)  When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
(17)  So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.

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