Issue 1,007 Breaking All the Rules – March 18, 2023
I am continuing my Lenten speed read/markup of the Old Testament. Yesterday, I cruised into the book of Ezekiel. Even though it has been a rapid read, I regularly see things I had not noticed before or am being reminded of key concepts.
I was struck in particular by one passage.
“Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, and have not even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. Ezekiel 5:5-8
The Lord is chastising the people of Jerusalem for not following His commands. They can’t even follow the rules of the pagan societies that surround them. They seem to have substituted some system of whatever rules, regulations, and rituals appeal to them, picking ones they like and discarding others.
The people of Jerusalem can’t even seem to get being unfaithful right.
As I read that, I thought of our culture today. People pick and choose parts of various religions that they want to keep and reject others. They pick and choose the passages of the Bible or other “holy” books they consider helpful or truthful.
People create their own faith in a system that mirrors what they want. In essence, they have created a god in their own image.
It is a common theme throughout the Scriptures.
You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 12:8-9
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 17:6
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. Proverbs 21:2
Broken, sin-filled people opt for their own rules and regulations to measure goodness and a means of salvation. We can’t even get that right; even by our own measures, we sin if we are honest enough to admit it.
The Bible takes us to task.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8
Even if we reject the Law of God, we stand condemned by our own standards and cannot redeem ourselves.
The simple truth is that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12
Jesus is the only way. None of us measures up, and we must run to Him in faith, trusting in His finished work and mercy.
Praise God that he gives us a way despite our fickleness and flawed rules.
Be Blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
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All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2023 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin Gleanings From The Word.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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