Thursday, November 17 ~ Miriam

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Ezekiel 5-7; 1 Timothy 4.

The thing that jumped out at me in Ezekiel today was chapter 5:7 where it says:

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you."


Ouch.  Not only have they not followed God's decrees or laws, but they're even WORSE than the nations who didn't know God to begin with?!?!  I don't know about you, but I found that heartbreaking.  And yet, I see this in our North American culture as well.  Not only do we (our culture) not follow God, but sometimes it seems that we purposefully push back as hard as possible in the absolute opposite direction from morality and sound judgment, just because we don't want to be confined, restricted, or have to follow rules.  


It kind of makes me think, also, of the "preacher's kid" you sometimes hear about.  You know, the one whose parents "laid down the law" and expected their kids to toe the line without teaching them why and how and learning to make good decisions.  Some of those kids figure out the why and how and learn to make good decisions on their own, but others say "You do nothing but order me around and tell me what to do and what not to do... now I'm going to do what I want," which is usually whatever is the exact opposite of what they've always been told, and proceed to rebel in a spectacularly destructive fashion.  I don't claim to be a wonderful parent, certainly not a perfect one, and there is no guarantee that my children will grow up to love God or desire to follow His will.  It amazes me how my prayers with regard to them have changed since starting this Bible reading journey two years ago.  Before, my prayers were that He would give me strength and wisdom to teach them to be good, strong, loving Christian people... now, I still pray for strength and wisdom as a parent, but in a different way.  I now also pray for THEM to have the love for Him and the desire to follow Him and serve Him.  I think that is an important distinction.  I've come to realize that it is not about hammering away on the outside and the inside will conform to the shape I want.  For them to become good, strong, loving Christian people, it has to come from the inside.  The best I can do is teach them about who God is and why I love him and pray that they learn to love Him, too.


Wow, and here I thought I didn't have much to say about Ezekiel.


Moving on to Timothy, the verse I particularly noticed today says "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."  (4:8)


I've exercised more or less regularly since high school.  I did not follow through well during my pregnancies, but otherwise I've consistently exercised on a regular basis for probably... okay, well, I won't say how many years.  But a lot.  Half my life, anyway.  Part of the reason I decided to join this blog venture initially was because I was feeling guilty about the fact that while I accepted Christ as my Saviour so long ago I can't remember it, I've NEVER been successful at spending regular time with God.  On the other hand, when it came to exercise, I told myself "If it's important to you to be healthy and in good shape, then you need to MAKE time for regular exercise."  Oh dear.  See the problem here?  My physical health, which is only good to me for a relatively short time here on Earth, is worth making time for 4-5 days a week, but my spiritual health, which is eternal, took a backseat to... well... everything else.  I, who grew up going to church every Sunday, having family devotions most evenings after supper, going to youth group and/or Bible study weekly during jr. and sr. high, etc. was 33 years old when I finally read every book in the entire Bible for the very first time.  I thought I knew the importance of spending time with God, but I never understood what it can mean to your day-to-day life, attitudes and priorities until it became important enough to me to MAKE time for it.


Happy Thursday!

 Tomorrow's passage:  Ezekiel 8-10; 1 Timothy 5.