I have been asking God to give me a glimpse of where I am and where He is taking me, and yesterday He showed me something amazing. It may not be just for me so I wanted to share it. I pray it will be helpful to you.
In Ezekial 36 from verse 16 to 20 we hear about the nation of Israel acting badly. I don’t want to draw any conclusions as they apply to me or to us. I merely want to make the observation that Israel was not repenting or crying out to God. They were behaving badly.
God says in verse 22 when people see you they know you are my people and because I have concern for my holy name I will do this:
- I will take you from the nations and bring you into your own land.
- I will sprinkle you with clean water and cleanse you from your filthiness.
- I will give you a new heart and a new spirit.
- I will cause you to walk in My statutes and keep my judgments.
Then:
- You will dwell in the land you will be my people and I will be your God
- I will deliver you from all your uncleanness
- I will call for the grain and multiply it and bring no famine on you.
- I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.
There are several observations and applications I could make but I just want to make four:
- The nation of Israel was not being good, spiritual, repentant, or anything else worthy of God’s favor. He did it merely because they were His people and He wanted the nations all around them to know “that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate” vs 36
- Everything happened because God did it. Israel did nothing. (don’t take this too far)
- When you read; commandment, covenant, statutes, judgments etc. insert faith. We are under the new covenant. (again, don’t take this too far. keep it simple)
- Once He has done these things and caused us to live by faith. Then we will inherit the land and be blessed.
In order for this to be a theological piece it would have taken many more words than this and I’ve already abused the boundaries of a blog post. So please take some time to read Ezekial 36 and consider where you are in the process and thank God for the coming multiplication of grain and fruit. Then thank Him for His mercy, His long-suffering, His loving-kindness, and His grace. Submit to the process, He is good.
Selah.
