A Net in Time

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Discipline, Protection, Promise

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Ezekiel 29 is all about a judgement being proclaimed against Egypt.

My son and I are in the midst of reading a book about Egypt, so having this prophecy against Egypt just kinda fits.  🙂    We’ve been brought to awareness how vast Egypt was and how poorly she treated Egypt.  We know this from the bible, but sometimes reading it in a story just brings those facts more to life, gives an awareness not previously seen.


The prophecy is in particular against the Pharaoh but also against the whole of Egypt.

God is very direct with the people, telling them that

“Behold, I am against you,
    Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great dragon that lies
    in the midst of his streams,
that says, ‘My Nile is my own;
    I made it for myself.’

It’s that nasty pride creeping in  you know… that “I did this”, without considering who REALLY made it.

So God will treat them like the fish of the Nile, hooking them up and dragging them out.   He will cast them out into the wilderness where they will be scattered by the beasts of the field, not able to be gathered up again.

5 And I will cast you out into the wilderness,
    you and all the fish of your streams;
you shall fall on the open field,
    and not be brought together or gathered.
To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens
    I give you as food.

WHY?
For the same reason as always.  God wants them to know that HE is the Lord.

Israel leaned on Egypt for help and Egypt mistreated her.  “Because you have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, 7 when
they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders;
and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to
shake.

Therefore the Lord will bring troubles to Egypt, the sword will come against her. Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast, 9 and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. 

Egypt will KNOW that God is the LORD.
Their pride in the Nile is their destruction.  They forgot who made the Nile.  God’s anger at them in great for he will make them a wasteland for 40 years and scatter her peoples. behold, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. 11 No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. 12 And
I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated
countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities
that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries.

 But at the end of those 40 years, the people of Egypt shall again be gathered up.  Egypt will have her fortunes restored and she shall be the lowliest of peoples and never rule over other nations again.  Israel will NEVER be able to rely on her again.   And Israel to shall know that God is the LORD. 
And it shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.

 I have to admit..I thought that was cool.  Even in the midst of his anger against Egypt God didn’t forget his people.  Part of his chastisement of Egypt is his goal that his own people learn and remember that HE IS GOD.  Only he is the LORD.

The source of the destruction, God’s immediate tool, will be the land of Babylon with king Nebuchadnezzar at it’s head.  This king and his people shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army.

God was very clear.   What Nebuchadnezzar did was work for him.  I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord God.  In essence, Egypt and her wealth was his reward for a job well done.

I have to admit, I don’t quite understand this last line.  It sounds like a word of promise, like a word that would point to Christ…. this “horn” that will spring up.   Because of this horn Israel will know that God is the Lord.   
21 “On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Wasn’t this an interesting passage?   I certainly thought so.
God’s focus is on helping people realize who he is.
Egypt is corrected for hurting his people.
God’s tool was rewarded.
And a promise given.  A horn will spring up in Israel.

Just interesting.  🙂  Discipline.  Protection.  Promise. I like it. 

Hymn Study: Praise Ye the Lord, The Almighty

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I LOVE the singing of Fernando Ortega… The way he sings hymns just lifts my spirit every single time.   He occasionally lightly changes the words but not enough to annoy.  🙂

Here he is, singing this lovely hymn written by Joachim Neander

Lyrics:
The verses I am familiar with in red.  
Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.
Praise ye the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee;
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.
Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.
Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.
Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.
 This hymn was originally written in German and was translated by Catherine Winkworth.    It was written by Joachim Neander, who studied theology in Bremen.      He wasn’t a serious theology student until he heard a sermon by a man by the name of Theodore Undereyk.  (source) .   (see…. good preaching changes lives)  🙂   He was a minister only for a year before he died, at age 30, from tuberculosis.

An interesting fact is that a valley was renamed after him, and in that valley the remains of Homo neanderthalensis, or the Neanderthal man was discovered.  (source)   This makes him the only hymnist with a hominid named after him.

 Now for this hymn without singing.  Isn’t the tune lovely?

 

And They Shall Know…

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25 “Thus says the Lord God: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 26 And they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, when I execute judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.”
Ezekiel 28:25-26

These are the last two verses of Ezekiel 28.  

God has a promise for his people Israel.   “when I gather the house of Israel…. they shall dwell in their own land….and dwell securely”

Think about that.   

God is going to gather his people together.  His people that are scattered.
He will do this in the sight of the nations.

Remember what God has been doing?   How he has been executing judgements against them?

God will gather his people together.
In doing so, his holiness will be made manifest.. folks will know that he is doing the gathering.
And the end result… you know what it is….

THEY WILL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD THEIR GOD.

Always, always God comes back to that.
He wants his people to know that he is the Lord THEIR GOD.

Sometimes I wonder…. have we forgotten this?
Have we believers forgotten just who we profess to love?
This God of ours who can bring down kings and nations.
This God who doesn’t tolerate his people being mocked.
This same God who keeps out universe running so we have oxygen to breathe.

Is the same God that we fail to pray to before meals or journeys.
The same God that we fail to thank or praise for the various things happening in our lives.
The same God who is mindful of our aches and pains and we neglect to thank him for all that he’s prevented from happening in our lives or the medicines we are able to take.

So do we really remember that this Lord God who has gathered us into families and churches and denominations and more… Do we really truly know that HIS IS OUR LORD GOD?   Do we?

Monkey in the Middle

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You know the game right?   

Monkey in the middle.. three people playing, two on the end are tossing something back and forth that the one in the middle wants?   Can be played in fun, but can also be played in a teasing manner? 

Being a middle child is sometimes like being a monkey in the middle.

The oldest ones are more experienced and old enough to not want to share with the bothersome younger sibling, and the youngest ones are so used to getting their own way that helping out the older sibling doesn’t occur to them.

I am a middle child.  Can’t say it was all bad, could be a lot of fun, being older and younger at the same time.   Teasing and being teased, always someone to play with, but hard when you need downtime as there’s always someone around.  🙂   BUT with families you take the good with the bad, you make a way because you want to fit in.

Lately I’ve been reading from Ezekiel, and right now I’m in a section where there are judgements against the nations surrounding Israel.   And I think about how Israel so badly wanted to fit into the nations around them.  How badly they wanted to fit in with gang.

But that’s not what God wanted for them.  God wanted them to be HIS people, called to HIS way and HIS purpose.  He didn’t want them fitting in with outside sources.

He calls the church to be family.  And how many churches try to fit in with outside sources.   Changing the church to fit society.

Will the church need to sit back and watch judgement being poured out on those sources just as Israel did?   Will the church need to learn again that the Lord himself is GOD and there is none other?

Just something to ponder late on a Thursday night.  
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This is a five minute Friday post.    Visit us at Kate’s blog eh? 

Review: Out of the Spin Cycle

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40 Devotionals awaiting to lighten your load as a mother.   

Jen Hatmaker writes with humour and real-life stories to bring truth to bear, and a heart bent to hold a struggling momma close.

This book is a hand up to mommas, teaching what is most important.   Knowing the hearts of our children and turning those hearts toward God.

More important than laundry.
More important than getting it all right.
More important than healthy children (as in no medical issues)
More important than doing everything for them.

Teaching them to see God’s heart in the life of their mother.

And teaching momma that she doesn’t have to do it all or know it all, all she really has to know is… the heart of the God who made her. 

Some of  the devotions have a bible passage at the start, others have the passage mixed within the devotional.  The passages seemed like they fit as opposed to be taken out of context (pet peeve of mine).   Each devotion has a least one question to help the reader think through the thought presented AND a step of action.

One step out of the spin cycle call to action was this “Think of a concrete way to teach the character of Jesus today. Find a way to demonstrate his love, his presence, his joy or his protection“. 

Recommend it?   Yes. I didn’t see anything that caused me to raise my eyebrows or set my spirit a questing after truth.   If you need some encouragement and truth spoken into your life, this book may be just what you are looking for.

Title: Out of the Spin Cycle – Devotions to Lighten Your Mother Load
 Author: Jen Hatmaker

Pages: 175
Type: Christian Devotional
Style: paperback 

Reviewed for Nuts about Books

Amazon.ca: Out of the Spin Cycle: Devotions to Lighten Your Mother Load
Amazon.com: Out of the Spin Cycle: Devotions to Lighten Your Mother Load

Sidon, be warned

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The Lord God is finished dealing with Tyre, today it’s Sidon’s turn to be warned.
Destruction is headed her way so that they will know that GOD is the Lord God.
“Behold, I am against you, O Sidon,
I have to admit, I find this line interesting.    God is against Sidon BUT his plan is to manifest his glory in their midst.  
 
    and I will manifest my glory in your midst.
 So that they will know that HE is the Lord.
 
And they shall know that I am the Lord
This way when judgement comes there will be no excuse. They will simply know that it is from the Lord God himself.
 
    when I execute judgments in her
    and manifest my holiness in her;
23 for I will send pestilence into her,
    and blood into her streets;
and the slain shall fall in her midst,
    by the sword that is against her on every side.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
 The end result… For the House of Israel there will be left no thorns in the side, no nation that will treat her with contempt.

24 “And for the house of Israel there shall be no more a brier to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.
I read those words and I feel amazed. It’s more that I am partly stunned.  These nations did wrong in the eyes of the Lord.   Setting themselves up as the best, the brightest, worshipping themselves, false Gods, money and the like.
But they also did something else.
They picked on Israel.  A bunch of little bully nations picking on the kid.
God wants that stopped.
So he disciplines the nations around Israel for their various faults.
But he also tells his people… see.. all that bullying will stop.    No thorns in your side will be left untouched.
This is what God does for his people.   He minds them, he watches over them, he sees what others do to his people, and though he doesn’t always take immediate action HE WILL.   It’s written down for us here in Ezekiel.
So take comfort the besieged among us believers.  Know that God will act.  He will stand for us.  He won’t let us be bullied for ever.  So stand strong and firm in your faith.  STAND. 

Hymn Study: God Of our Fathers

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Here’s an hymn that is oft sung in our church.   It is a hymn written to help celebrate a national holiday but speaks much to God’s care for his people and our thankfulness to him for all he leads us through.

 God of our fathers, whose almighty hand
Leads forth in beauty all the starry band
Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies
Our grateful songs before Thy throne arise.
Thy love divine hath led us in the past,
In this free land by Thee our lot is cast,
Be Thou our ruler, guardian, guide and stay,
Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.
From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence,
Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defense;
Thy true religion in our hearts increase,
Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.
Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way,
Lead us from night to never ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,
And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine.
This hymn was written by Daniel C. Roberts and put to music by George William Warren.

The history to this hymn:
This hymn is a 19th century hymn written to commemorate the 100th year celebration of the  United States Declaration of Independence in 1876.  At that time Roberts was the rector in a small town in Vermont and he wrote it to help his town celebrate Independence Day.  At that time it was sung to the tune “Russian Hymn”. 

Later he was invited to submit his hymn for inclusion in Episcopal Church hymnal on which Mr. Warren was a committee member.   He was the organist for the celebrations of the 100 years since adopting the Constitution.  The committee wanted to use the song for their celebrations but didn’t want to use a tune called “Russian hymn” so Mr. Warren wrote a new tune called “National Hymn”.

Ever since that 100 year celebration this hymn has become widely known and is included in many hymnals.

Scripture associated with this hymn is Psalm 46:7 where we read
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Sources:
Lectionary.org.
CyberHymnal.
Center for Church Music.