Brett Hawthorn @BrettHawthorn@dingdash.com

*24:15-18* God told Ezekiel that his wife would die and that he should not grieve for her. Ezekiel obeyed God fully, even as Hosea did when he was told to marry an unfaithful woman (Hosea 1:2,3). In both cases, these unusual events were intended as symbolic acts to picture God’s relationship with his people. Obeying God can carry a high cost. The only grief more excruciating than losing your spouse and not being allowed to grieve would be to miss out on eternal life because you did not turn to and obey God. Ezekiel always obeyed God wholeheartedly. We should be wholehearted in our obedience. We can begin by doing all that God commands us to do, even when we don’t feel like it. Are you willing to serve God as completely as Ezekiel did?

*Matthew‬ ‭5:14-16‬ ‭NIV* ““You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”‬‬

*5:14-16* Can you hide a city that is sitting on top of a hill? Its light at night can be seen for miles. If we live for Christ, we will glow like lights, showing others what Christ is like. We hide our light by (1) being quiet when we should speak, (2) going along with the crowd, (3) denying the light, (4) letting sin dim our light, (5) not explaining our light to others, or (6) ignoring the needs of others. Be a beacon of truth - don’t shut your light off from the rest of the world.

Here is another prayer that got from You Version today that really spoke to me that I wanted to share with you all:
*Prayer*
God, I want my life to make You known to the people around me. Give me the courage to live generously. Let my actions be filled with humility and love so that they bring You glory and draw others close to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen 🙏

*‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭12:1-6‬ ‭NIV* “In that day you will say: “I will praise you, Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.””‬‬

*12:1-6* This chapter is a hymn of praise - another graphic description of the people’s joy when Jesus Christ comes to reign over the earth. Even now we need to express our gratitude to God - thanking him, praising him, and telling others about him. From the depths of our gratitude, we must praise him. And we should share the Good News with others

*‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭23:39‬ ‭NIV* “On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated it. That is what they did in my house.”‬‬

*23:39* The Israelites went so far as to sacrifice their own children to idols and then to sacrifice to the Lord the same day. This made a mockery of worship. We cannot praise God and willfully sin at the same time. That would be like a person going to bed with a neighbor and then celebrating his or her wedding anniversary.

*‭‭Psalms‬ ‭8:3-5‬ ‭NIV* “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.”‬‬

*8:3-5* When we look at the vast expanse of creation, we wonder how God could be concerned for people who constantly disappoint him. Yet God created us only a little lower than himself and the angels! The next time you question your worth as a person, remember that God considers you highly valuable. We have great worth because we bear the stamp of the Creator. (See Genises 1:26,27 for the extent of worth God places on all people.) Because God has already declared how valuable we are to him, we can be set free from feelings of worthlessness.

*‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭11:1-3‬ ‭NIV* “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord — and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;”‬‬

*11:1-3* Assyria would be like a tree cut down at the height of it’s power (10:33,34), never to rise again. Judah (the royal line of David) would be like a tree chopped down to a stump. But from that stump a new shoot would grow - the Messiah. He would be greater than the original tree and would bear much fruit. The Messiah is the fulfillment of God’s promise that a descendant of David would rule forever (2 Samuel 7:16).

*‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭11:4-5‬ ‭NIV* “but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.”‬‬

*11:4,5* Judah had become corrupt and was surrounded by hostile, foreign powers. The nation desperately needed a revival of righteousness, justice, and faithfulness. They needed to turn from selfishness and give justice to the poor and the oppressed. The righteousness that God values is more than refraining from sin, it is actively turning towards others and offering them the help they need.

*‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭11:11‬ ‭NIV* “In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.”‬‬

*11:11* When will this remnant of God’s people be returned to their land? Old Testament prophesy is often applied both to the near future and the distant future. Judah would soon be exiled to Babylon, and a remnant would return to Jerusalem in 537 B.C. at Cyrus’s decree. In the ages to come, however, God’s people would be dispersed throughout the world. These cities represent the four corners of the known world - Hamath in the north, Egypt in the south, Assyria and Babylonia in the east, the islands of the sea in the west. Ultimately God’s people will be regathered when Christ comes to reign over the world.

*Ezekiel‬ ‭22:6-13‬ ‭NIV* ““ ‘See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. In you are slanderers who are bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts. In you are those who dishonor their father’s bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean.

In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter. In you are people who accept bribes to shed blood; you take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign Lord. “ ‘I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst.”‬‬

*22:6-13* The leaders were especially responsible for the moral climate of the nation because God chose them to lead. The same is true today (see James 3:1). Unfortunately, many of the sins mentioned here have been committed in recent years by Christian leaders. We are living in a time of unprecedented attacks by Satan. We must uphold our leaders in prayer, and leaders must seek accountability to help them keep their moral and spiritual integrity.

*‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭22:26‬ ‭NIV* “Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”‬‬

*22:26* The priests were supposed to keep God’s worship pure and teach the people right living. But the worship of God had become commonplace to them; they ignored the Sabbath, and they refused to teach the people. They no longer carried out their God-given duties (Leviticus 10:11; Ezekiel 44:23). When doing God’s work becomes no more important than any mundane task, we are no longer giving God the reverence he deserves. Instead of bringing God down to our level, we should live up to his level.