November 7

Ezekiel 16:42-17:24, Hebrews 8:1-13, Psalm 106:13-31, Proverbs 27:7-9

Pray: Dear God we are thankful for Your kindness towards us even in our rebellion. We bless You for the privilege to spend time today in prayer and to hear Your voice through reading today’s scripture.

Read: Metaphors and rich imagery abound in Ezekiel. The story of two eagles gives us a deep image of God placing the people of Israel to prosper but the vine will be taken up by its roots because it does not deserve to remain in place. God does uproot us when we are no longer able to produce due to rebellion or mere apathy. What the people of Israel lacked was consistent obedience. This will open up God’s heart and strengthen our witness when people witness our simple and consistent obedience.

Edify: We have a great high priest who stands at the right hand of the Father and prays for us. This high priest has also gone before us to make a new covenant which means the “old one is obsolete” and the new one is now invoked. The new covenant is simple as we are to “love the Lord our God with all our heart, our soul, our strength and our mind. And the second commandment is to love our neighbor as yourself. All of the laws of the Old Testament hang on this one command." How often do you practice the one commandment of God? 

Practice: How true the writer put our human plight when he wrote, “They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass eating bull." We are often tempted to worship that which we have made with our own hands instead of the One who created our hands in His image. The reference to Phinehas is sobering as he was the grandson of Aaron who thrust the spear into the man who was blatantly committing adultery in front of children and adults who were trusted with a sacred moment to worship God.