Thursday 25 Apr 2013

Thursday Reading: Ezekiel 14:1-6

Key Verse: Ezekiel 14:3
3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

Devotion:
It is very hard to believe that someone wants forgiveness if they continue to do that which they are seeking forgiveness for. If we continue to sin and are seeking forgiveness for that sin then should we be seeking forgiveness in the first place. We should be willing to put aside our sin and then ask for forgiveness. I am not saying that we have to stop sinning before we can seek forgiveness because we do need outside help to get us out of the rut of sin in the first place; but we do need to show that we are willing to change first of all.

Many times that is going to be us showing that we are willing to let go of certain things in our lives before we ask for God to fix things that are broken. We cling to worldly things in the hopes that they will be able to somehow make changes in our lives so that we will not have to fully rely on God. We may find it difficult to fully rely on God because we may feel like that will be letting everything go or using God as a crutch; but when we sit down and read God’s Word we find that that is exactly what God wants us to do. He wants us to let go of the world so that we can see His power and His might in action. As long as we cling to the world we invite doubt about God’s power in because we begin to think that maybe it is the result of the worldly items around us that we have what we have.

We may not look at those things around us as idols until we realise that we are giving them the glory instead of giving the glory to God our Creator! God is a jealous God and does not want to be put in second place to something else that He or man has created.

We do focus on some pretty strange things in our lives instead of focusing on God. We allow physical objects to become more prominent than God. We rely on money or other wealth instead of God. We depend on our own abilities instead of following God’s guidance. Yes it is hard to fully rely on God, but that is what He has been asking of us from the beginning.

Points to Ponder:
What do you depend on?

Do you see God as your sole soul keeper?