Exclusive
August 29th, 2008
Scripture:
“Then you will know that I am the Lord, when their slain are among their idols around their altars … the places where they offered soothing aroma to all their idols.” Ezekiel 6:13
Observation:
In this scripture, Ezekiel is being used by God to preach God’s message of Jerusalem’s siege and destruction to the exiled children in Babylon. After Judah’s initial seize, they were still allowed to retain their spiritual and cultural identity but instead of seeing this captivity as a punishment from God and returning, they continued to turn from God and began to mesh right into the Egyptian’s ways. God created them, made them his special people and desired a relationship with them and since they were entwining their lifestyle with unholy things, God became jealous. This passage reminds me that he desires our full attention and isn’t open to sharing our time, love or dedication with anyone or anything. Ezekiel was encouraging them to see the errors of their ways and to see this time of exile as a time of atonement and punishment and to repent.
In this scripture, Ezekiel is being used by God to preach God’s message of Jerusalem’s siege and destruction to the exiled children in Babylon. After Judah’s initial seize, they were still allowed to retain their spiritual and cultural identity but instead of seeing this captivity as a punishment from God and returning, they continued to turn from God and began to mesh right into the Egyptian’s ways. God created them, made them his special people and desired a relationship with them and since they were entwining their lifestyle with unholy things, God became jealous. This passage reminds me that he desires our full attention and isn’t open to sharing our time, love or dedication with anyone or anything. Ezekiel was encouraging them to see the errors of their ways and to see this time of exile as a time of atonement and punishment and to repent.
Application:
Webster’s dictionary defines exclusive as limiting or limited to possession, single, sole, whole or undivided. This is the absolute description of what God desires with us. He created us in his imagine for worship and communion and yet in our sinful way we simply turn from him. We get caught up in what we want, or what we think is best, or what we need to satisfy us and forget that he is our true provider, sustainer and fulfiller of souls. I remember being a teen and the last thing that I wanted was to spend time along with my parents. You never knew what topic was going to be broached, what suggestions they might want to impart or what wisdom they were just dying to share so…I made it my goal in life to never be at home or alone with them. I participated in every after school activity possible, I was always going out to be with friends and then if I had to come home, then I had to have a friend spend the night. As I matured, I really began to value that time alone with my parents. I don’t know when it happened but one day I realized that they weren’t that dumb or that old and many of the things that they said had true wisdom. They never wanted to constrain me or hold me back their true desire was to know me, to love on me and to offer guidance and direction thus preventing me from experiencing pain. Their need for exclusiveness with me came from love just as God’s desire for exclusiveness is also based on love. He knitted me together in my mother’s womb, he knows my every thought, and he has a great and perfect plan for me. Why would I ever look to anyone or anything else to make me whole?
Webster’s dictionary defines exclusive as limiting or limited to possession, single, sole, whole or undivided. This is the absolute description of what God desires with us. He created us in his imagine for worship and communion and yet in our sinful way we simply turn from him. We get caught up in what we want, or what we think is best, or what we need to satisfy us and forget that he is our true provider, sustainer and fulfiller of souls. I remember being a teen and the last thing that I wanted was to spend time along with my parents. You never knew what topic was going to be broached, what suggestions they might want to impart or what wisdom they were just dying to share so…I made it my goal in life to never be at home or alone with them. I participated in every after school activity possible, I was always going out to be with friends and then if I had to come home, then I had to have a friend spend the night. As I matured, I really began to value that time alone with my parents. I don’t know when it happened but one day I realized that they weren’t that dumb or that old and many of the things that they said had true wisdom. They never wanted to constrain me or hold me back their true desire was to know me, to love on me and to offer guidance and direction thus preventing me from experiencing pain. Their need for exclusiveness with me came from love just as God’s desire for exclusiveness is also based on love. He knitted me together in my mother’s womb, he knows my every thought, and he has a great and perfect plan for me. Why would I ever look to anyone or anything else to make me whole?
Prayer:
Lord, why am I so slow to learn? Lord, I love you and desire to be in your will but I so often get caught up in “my way,” what I think is best or what I need. Open my eyes to see the error of my ways and soften my heart to hear your word. Give me wisdom to know right from wrong and then give me strength to turn from all other “idols” in my life. You alone are my God and let me always remember this in my soul. Lord, instill in me a burning desire for you — a desire to seek you daily, to sit at your feet and breathe you in, for you alone fill me.
Lord, why am I so slow to learn? Lord, I love you and desire to be in your will but I so often get caught up in “my way,” what I think is best or what I need. Open my eyes to see the error of my ways and soften my heart to hear your word. Give me wisdom to know right from wrong and then give me strength to turn from all other “idols” in my life. You alone are my God and let me always remember this in my soul. Lord, instill in me a burning desire for you — a desire to seek you daily, to sit at your feet and breathe you in, for you alone fill me.
— Tiffany Fennell, preschool minister, Madison campus