September 11 - Ezekiel 37-39: You'll Realize That I Am God

It's becoming more clear to me that every single thing God does is for the ultimate purpose of making Himself known to the world. He wants His people and His enemies to realize that He is God. Over and over and over again, He explains His blessings and judgments with, "Then you'll realize that I am God."

• God breathes life into the dry bones of His people. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God! (37:6)
• God promises to bring His people back to Israel. When I dig up graves and bring you out as my people, you'll realize that I am God. I'll breath my life into you and you'll live. Then I'll lead you straight back to your land and you'll realize that I am God. (37:13-14)
• God promises to make Israel one nation in the land He gave them, with David as king over them, and God living among them. The nations will realize that I, God, make Israel holy when my holy place of worship is established at the center of their lives forever. (37:28)
• God promises to use Gog to put His holiness on display through all-out war with Gog and other nations. I'll show you how great I am, how holy I am. I'll make myself known all over the world. Then you'll realize that I am God. (38:23)
• God promises judgment on His enemies. I'll set fire to Magog and the far-off islands, where people are so seemingly secure. And they'll realize that I am God. (39:6)
• God promises to protect His reputation. I'll reveal my holy name among my people Israel. Never again will I let my holy name be dragged in the mud. Then the nations will realize that I, God am The Holy of Israel. (39:7)
• God promises Israel will eventually understand. I'll put my glory on display among the nations and they'll all see the judgment I execute, see me at work handing out judgment. From that day on, Israel will realize that I am their God. (39:21)
• God promises that Israel will be an example to the nations. Once I've brought them back from foreign parts, gathered them in from enemy territories, I'll use them to demonstrate my holiness with all the nations watching. Then they'll realize for sure that I am their God (39:27)

Slowly, my eyes are being opened to the reality of all that God is doing, in Ezekiel and in my own life, even though it's hard to read and very hard to experience personally.

"Your sin is deep, your wickedness vile. Serpents from hell crawl through your soul. Their poison fills your words. I showed Ezekiel all of this, and now I'm showing you" 66 LL 

Ugh. I'm not sure I want to see much more, Lord.

It's not been a stellar week. I've been antagonistic, overly sensitive, short-tempered, and whiny as I continue to wrestle with the reality of my deep-seated sin. I'm not enjoying this phase one bit and often feel very misunderstood and alone. I keep wondering if I've hit bottom or not as I literally feel the reality of the Bad News about myself.

But I can see that God is doing His cleansing work to strip me of my illusions about my own goodness and my ability to fix myself. Honestly, I'm trying as hard as I can, but nothing is working. I can't help but see how my sin impacts the people I love and to recognize my lack of power to change myself.

Thankfully, God continues to give me the faith to keep moving forward and the hope that He will complete His work in me. I'm clinging for dear life to the truth that Jesus has rescued me from this body of death.

I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. (Romans 7:24-25)

And I keep going back to this quote from Larry Crabb:

"Seventy times in this letter I explain that I do all that I do for one purpose: that My people will know that I AM the Lord. To know Me in My holiness is to know yourself in your sinfulness. To know Me in My love is to experience life, to know that a party is coming. To know Me: that's My plan." 66 LL

Lord, I trust that this is all part of the sanctification process. I pray You'll give me eyes to see You more clearly and a heart to know You more fully. May I realize that You are God.