Ezekiel 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: YOU NEED A SAVIOR

If we could save ourselves why would we need a Savior? Jesus didn’t enter the world to help us save ourselves. He entered the world to save us from ourselves. As a Boy Scout, I earned a lifesaving merit badge. Fact is, the only people I saved were other Boy Scouts who didn’t need to be saved. During training I would rescue other trainees. We took turns saving each other, but since we weren’t really drowning we resisted being rescued. “Stop kicking and let me save you,” I’d say.

It’s impossible to save those who are trying to save themselves. You know, you might save yourself from a broken heart or going broke or running out of gas. But you’re not good enough to save yourself from sin; you aren’t strong enough to save yourself from death. You need a Savior, and because of Bethlehem, you have one!

Ezekiel 26

As the Waves of the Sea, Surging Against the Shore

In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, Tyre cheered when they got the news of Jerusalem, exclaiming,

“‘Good! The gateway city is smashed!
    Now all her business comes my way.
She’s in ruins
    and I’m in clover.’

3-6 “Therefore, God, the Master, has this to say:

“‘I’m against you, Tyre,
    and I’ll bring many nations surging against you,
    as the waves of the sea surging against the shore.
They’ll smash the city walls of Tyre
    and break down her towers.
I’ll wash away the soil
    and leave nothing but bare rock.
She’ll be an island of bare rock in the ocean,
    good for nothing but drying fishnets.
Yes, I’ve said so.’ Decree of God, the Master.
    ‘She’ll be loot, free pickings for the nations!
Her surrounding villages will be butchered.
    Then they’ll realize that I am God.’

7-14 “God, the Master, says: Look! Out of the north I’m bringing Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king’s king, down on Tyre. He’ll come with chariots and horses and riders—a huge army. He’ll massacre your surrounding villages and lay siege to you. He’ll build siege ramps against your walls. A forest of shields will advance against you! He’ll pummel your walls with his battering rams and shatter your towers with his iron weapons. You’ll be covered with dust from his horde of horses—a thundering herd of war horses pouring through the breaches, pulling chariots. Oh, it will be an earthquake of an army and a city in shock! Horses will stampede through the streets. Your people will be slaughtered and your huge pillars strewn like matchsticks. The invaders will steal and loot—all that wealth, all that stuff! They’ll knock down your fine houses and dump the stone and timber rubble into the sea. And your parties, your famous good-time parties, will be no more. No more songs, no more lutes. I’ll reduce you to an island of bare rock, good for nothing but drying fishnets. You’ll never be rebuilt. I, God, have said so. Decree of God, the Master.

Introduced to the Terrors of Death
15 “This is the Message of God, the Master, to Tyre: Won’t the ocean islands shake at the crash of your collapse, at the groans of your wounded, at your mayhem and massacre?

16-18 “All up and down the coast, the princes will come down from their thrones, take off their royal robes and fancy clothes, and wrap themselves in sheer terror. They’ll sit on the ground, shaken to the core, horrified at you. Then they’ll begin chanting a funeral song over you:

“‘Sunk! Sunk to the bottom of the sea,
    famous city on the sea!
Power of the seas,
    you and your people,
Intimidating everyone
    who lived in your shadows.
But now the islands are shaking
    at the sound of your crash,
Ocean islands in tremors
    from the impact of your fall.’

19-21 “The Message of God, the Master: ‘When I turn you into a wasted city, a city empty of people, a ghost town, and when I bring up the great ocean deeps and cover you, then I’ll push you down among those who go to the grave, the long, long dead. I’ll make you live there, in the grave in old ruins, with the buried dead. You’ll never see the land of the living again. I’ll introduce you to the terrors of death and that’ll be the end of you. They’ll send out search parties for you, but you’ll never be found. Decree of God, the Master.’”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, December 17, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Leviticus 23:15–22

The Festival of Weeks
15 “‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. 16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. 17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. 18 Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 19 Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering[a] and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. 20 The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest. 21 On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

22 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’”

Insight
Today’s passage from Leviticus 23:15–22 refers to one of the annual Jewish festivals known as the Feast (or Festival) of Weeks. This Old Testament festival began fifty days after the Festival of First Fruits (see vv. 9–14). It included animal sacrifices and grain offerings and was a time of rejoicing and thanksgiving to God for His great bounty. It was also an occasion to be generous with the poor (v. 22). In the New Testament, it’s referred to as Pentecost (Acts 2:1; from the Greek word for fiftieth), the day when the Holy Spirit came upon 120 believers in Jesus gathered in an upper room (1:15).

Leave a Little Behind
Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. Leviticus 23:22

Pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and occasionally a half-dollar. That’s what you’d find on the nightstand beside his bed. He’d empty his pockets each evening and leave the contents there, for he knew eventually they’d come to visit—they being his grandchildren. Over the years the kids learned to visit his nightstand as soon as they arrived. He could have put all that spare change in a coin bank or even stored it away in a savings account. But he didn’t. He delighted in leaving it there for the little ones, the precious guests in his home.

A similar mindset is what’s expressed in Leviticus 23 when it comes to bringing in the harvest from the land. God, via Moses, told the people something quite counterintuitive: not to “reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest” (v. 22). Essentially, He said, “Leave a little behind.” This instruction reminded the people that God was behind the harvest in the first place, and that He used His people to provide for those of little account (the strangers in the land).

Such thinking is definitely not the norm in our world. But it’s exactly the kind of mindset that will characterize the grateful sons and daughters of God. He delights in a generous heart. And that often comes through you and me. By:  John Blase

Reflect & Pray
What’s your first reaction to the thought of “leaving a little behind”? What’s one way you could practice such thankful generosity toward the poor or the strangers in your life?

Loving God, thank You for Your provision in my life. Give me eyes to see ways in which I can share with others, especially those poor and in need.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 17, 2020
Redemption— Creating the Need it Satisfies

The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him… —1 Corinthians 2:14

The gospel of God creates the sense of need for the gospel. Is the gospel hidden to those who are servants already? No, Paul said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe…” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The majority of people think of themselves as being completely moral, and have no sense of need for the gospel. It is God who creates this sense of need in a human being, but that person remains totally unaware of his need until God makes Himself evident. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you…” (Matthew 7:7). But God cannot give until a man asks. It is not that He wants to withhold something from us, but that is the plan He has established for the way of redemption. Through our asking, God puts His process in motion, creating something in us that was nonexistent until we asked. The inner reality of redemption is that it creates all the time. And as redemption creates the life of God in us, it also creates the things which belong to that life. The only thing that can possibly satisfy the need is what created the need. This is the meaning of redemption— it creates and it satisfies.

Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32). When we preach our own experiences, people may be interested, but it awakens no real sense of need. But once Jesus Christ is “lifted up,” the Spirit of God creates an awareness of the need for Him. The creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel. It is never the sharing of personal experiences that saves people, but the truth of redemption. “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

Bible in a Year: Amos 7-9; Revelation 8

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 17, 2020
God's Christmas Go-fer - #8854

So, what do you think of when I say the word "Go-fer"? Well, if you live in the country, you probably think of a little animal that keeps disappearing into holes. If you work in an office and I say, "Go-fer," you're thinking of the person who keeps getting stuck running all the menial errands, maybe you - that's the go-fer spelled a little differently. That's "go-fer," like "go fer this" and "go fer that." Right? Now, usually a human go-fer is someone who has the least authority and the least seniority. Can you imagine having, say the president or the boss of the company, also be the company go-fer?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's Christmas Go-fer."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 2 - very familiar words. "In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world, and everyone went to his town to register. So Joseph, also, went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born."

You can't fully understand the cosmic events that are taking place here as Joseph goes from Nazareth to Bethlehem unless you understand the prophecy God made about the birth of His Son. It was about five hundred years before, recorded in Micah 5:2, where God says, "But you, Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me the one who will be ruler over Israel whose origins are from old from ancient times." Simply, the Messiah was going to be born in Bethlehem. That was God's plan.

Excuse me. We have a problem here! The mother and father are in Nazareth. It's about 90 miles away. It's nearing the time for the baby to be born. There's no conceivable way you're going to get Joseph to take Mary 90 miles on a rugged road to Bethlehem. But God's plan says it's going to be Bethlehem. How are we going to do this?

Enter now the most powerful man in the world. History knows him to have been a butcher. Caesar Augustus - he took orders from no one. He murdered members of his own family. But God needs to get Joseph to Bethlehem, so get this - he moves the world's most pagan, most powerful man to decree new taxes. Joseph is forced to go to Bethlehem. He doesn't want to leave Mary alone, so he takes her. And Caesar becomes God's Christmas go-fer, just doing His errands to make His promises happen. That's great isn't it? So what?

Well, a couple of encouragements for you about the Christmas gifts from the Christmas Story. Number one, God can use anybody to accomplish His plans for His kids. Maybe right now there's a person who seems to be an obstacle or opponent. Wouldn't it be something? See, they could become God's instrument to move you where you need to be. Oh, that person, well, they think they're in charge. So did Caesar Augustus. God's in charge.

Secondly, God will move whatever He has to, to keep His promises to you. If He has to move an entire empire to make a promise come true. He will do it. and He did! And surely He can move what needs to be dealt with in your life. If God can use the Emperor of Rome as His personal go-fer, there is nothing that's going to stop His plans for you.