There is all sorts of incredible truth we can get from the Old Testament. Too many Christians like to focus on the New Covenant because it is dripping with God’s Love and Grace…yet God is the same yesterday, today and always! (see Heb 13:8) So He was also wonderfully generous with His Love and Grace to the saints in the Old Testament too. Think of how many times God could have wiped out His People, the Israelites, for their sin and infidelity, yet He continually showed them Mercy and Favor. And praise God, he does the same for you and me too. Every time we choose to go astray…yes, I said “choose” because no one is forcing us to turn away from God…like the father in the prodigal Son parable though, God is always waiting for our return to Him, then He runs to us with open, forgiving arms.
The issue is that, once the Israelites received God’s pledge to be their God, they were no longer supposed to live for their own earthly kingdom. Yet time and time again, they chose to conform to this world instead of holding on to God and standing out in this world. They were to show the rest of the nations Who God is through their obedient actions and compassionate love towards foreigners. Yet they assimilated instead, losing their special unique identity in the Lord, their God. Do we do the same, Church?
Once we surrender our lives to Jesus as Savior and Lord, “our” life should not be about what “I think, I feel or I want” anymore. When our heart is circumcised, we immediately become a lifelong, and beyond, member of God’s Forever Family, so our focus should be God’s Greater and Eternal Kingdom. This doesn’t mean we do not have a lower dominion here. But it should not be our focus. And when we attempt to continue living the way we did, all MMI-centered, God will let us sense the disconnect between WHO we now are and how we are trying to still live.
So here’s our “verse to remember” for this week, it is an obscure one, but powerful none the less if we really bring it to God and talk to Him about it. It is from the amazing Book of Ezekiel, chapter 17, verse 14:
“Thus it would be a lowly kingdom, not asserting its own interests but observing the agreement so that it would survive.” Ezekiel 17:14 CEB
Lowly kingdom…let’s talk about it this week…
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
August: 30- Ro 8:1; 31- Pr 4:23; 32- Pr 18:21; 33- Ps 118:24; 34- 1Jn 4:4
September: 35- Mt 16:24; 36- Isa 53:6; 37- Ps 23:1-6
October: 38- Heb 4:12; 39- Jn 15:5
November: 40- Jas 5:16; 41- 1Jn 3:1; 42- 1Jn 5:12; 43- 1Jn 3:3; 44- Ps 139:16
December: 45- Ps 119:105; Eze 17:14
<>< Peace, Diane
