When did you last read Ezekiel? If it’s been a while, you might not remember how the prophecies of judgment and destruction go on and on and on. Why? Because God is just—sin must be punished. And God is holy, so he reacts with revulsion and righteous anger at the corruption that pours out of the human heart. Still, it’s all quite sobering, this flood of divine wrath against Judah, Ammon, Moab, Egypt, Philistia, to punish peoples who defy or ignore him.
In the midst of it all this refrain occurs over and over: “Then they will know that I am the Lord” (e.g., 24:24; 25:7, 11, 17; 28:24, 26; 29:6, 9, 16, 21; 30:19, 26; 33:29; 35:4, 9, 15). In other words, God will use and even cause calamity in order to jar his enemies (or even his own people) into recognizing their sin and realizing that Someone Else is in charge.
Pride kept many from humbly looking to God (e.g., 28:1, 5, 17; 32:12); sometimes people forgot about God altogether (e.g., 23:35); and then there were the hypnotizing effects of wealth that prevented trust in the Lord (e.g., 27:25-27). Sins of all kinds took hold. The Lord’s response was to use the superpower Babylon to bring rebels to their knees (later he would punish Babylon, too). This, of course, was severe treatment, but it was a severe mercy, a healthy “reality therapy” reminding people who was the Lord and who wasn’t. God takes no delight in the death of the wicked (33:11); his pleasure is in seeing the wicked turn away from sin and live!
Same is true today: God whispers in our pleasure and shouts in our pain. He wants us to know—for our good—that he is on the throne of the universe. So is he the Lord of your life?
Friday, January 07, 2005
PRAYER IS DELICATE
Prayer is delicate. This is not to say that prayer is weak, because the Bible tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16-18; see also Mark 11:23; Matthew 7:7). But prayer is delicate in the sense that its power is easily unplugged when we give in to sin. Known sin in my life or yours creates a ceiling that our prayers hit before falling flat on the floor:
· Husbands who do not honor their wives hinder their own prayers (1 Peter 3:7; see also 3:12).
· Those who pray with selfish motives do not receive what they ask for (James 4:3).
· If you cherish iniquity the Lord will not listen to you (Psalm 66:18).
· God will hide his face and not answer when his people cry to him and yet practice evil (Micah 3:4).
· When we close our ears to God, he does the same to us (Zechariah 7:11-13).
· If we obey God and spread his love, then he will answer our prayers (Isaiah 58:7-9; see also 2 Samuel 21:14 and Jeremiah 7:16-18).
Of course, even the prayer of the sincere and faithful follower of Jesus may be answered with a “No” or “Not now” (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10); the absence of sinful motives or conduct does not guarantee our desired results when we cry out to God (Job and Joseph are among the biblical examples of upright believers who endured great suffering for reasons unrelated to their actions; God's answer to their cries for deliverance was "No, not yet"). By contrast, the Lord, in his sovereign ingenuity, may at times grant certain temporal blessings to those living in sin. But that is not the norm, and the biblical connection between godly living and close communion with the Lord remains God’s standard operating procedure.
And so, for the sake of God’s honor and your spiritual health and joy, search your heart for the pride, greed, hate, anger, lies, fear, lust, idolatry (etc.) that can block your prayers! Confess the sins you find—he will forgive (1 John 1:9), and your relationship with the Lord will be restored!
· Husbands who do not honor their wives hinder their own prayers (1 Peter 3:7; see also 3:12).
· Those who pray with selfish motives do not receive what they ask for (James 4:3).
· If you cherish iniquity the Lord will not listen to you (Psalm 66:18).
· God will hide his face and not answer when his people cry to him and yet practice evil (Micah 3:4).
· When we close our ears to God, he does the same to us (Zechariah 7:11-13).
· If we obey God and spread his love, then he will answer our prayers (Isaiah 58:7-9; see also 2 Samuel 21:14 and Jeremiah 7:16-18).
Of course, even the prayer of the sincere and faithful follower of Jesus may be answered with a “No” or “Not now” (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10); the absence of sinful motives or conduct does not guarantee our desired results when we cry out to God (Job and Joseph are among the biblical examples of upright believers who endured great suffering for reasons unrelated to their actions; God's answer to their cries for deliverance was "No, not yet"). By contrast, the Lord, in his sovereign ingenuity, may at times grant certain temporal blessings to those living in sin. But that is not the norm, and the biblical connection between godly living and close communion with the Lord remains God’s standard operating procedure.
And so, for the sake of God’s honor and your spiritual health and joy, search your heart for the pride, greed, hate, anger, lies, fear, lust, idolatry (etc.) that can block your prayers! Confess the sins you find—he will forgive (1 John 1:9), and your relationship with the Lord will be restored!
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