Brett Hawthorn @BrettHawthorn@dingdash.com

*‭‭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.

*Ezekiel‬ ‭22:30‬ ‭NIV* ““I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.”‬‬

*22:30* The wall spoken of here is not made of stones, but of faithful people united in their efforts to resist evil. This walk was in disrepair because there was no one who could lead the people back to God. The feeble attempts to repair the gap - through religious rituals or messages based on opinion rather than God’s will - were as worthless as whitewash, only covering the real problems. What the people really needed was total spiritual reconstruction! When we give the appearance of loving God without living his way, we are covering up sins that could eventually damage us beyond repair. Don’t use religion as a whitewash; repair your life by applying the principles of God’s Word. Then you can join with others to stand “in the gap” and make a difference for God in the world.

*‭‭John‬ ‭8:12‬ ‭NIV‬‬* “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

*8:12* Jesus was speaking in the treasury - the part of the temple where the offerings were put (8:20) and where candles burned to symbolize the pillar of fire that led the people of Israel through the desert (Exodus 13:21,22). In this context, Jesus called himself the light of the world. The pillar of fire represented God’s presence, protection, and guidance. Is he the light of your world?

*8:12* What does it mean to follow Christ? As a soldier follows his captain, so should we follow Christ, our commander. As a slave follows his master, so we should follow Christ, our Lord. As we follow the advice of a trusted counselor, so we should follow Jesus’ commands to us in Scripture. As we follow the laws of our nation, so we should follow the laws of the kingdom of heaven.

*Prayer*
Lord, show me where there is still darkness lingering in my life. I want Your light to pierce the darkness and reveal the parts of me that I’ve been hiding from You. Help me to walk away from darkness and into Your lights. In Jesus’ name, Amen.