What vine are you attached to?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 16-18; Psalm 35

TO CHEW ON: "Say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Will it thrive?
Will he not pull pull up its roots
Cut off its fruit
And leave it to wither?
All of its leaves will wither,
And no great power or many people
Will be needed to pluck it up by its roots…" ' " Ezekiel 17:10


In this riddle / parable, the vine refers to Zedekiah with whom King Nebuchadnezzar replaces the legitimate King of Judah, Jehoiachin (who he carries away into exile  - Ezekiel 17:4).

Supported by Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, Zedekiah becomes a healthy vine, though humble ("…vine of low stature" - Ezekiel  17:6).

Then another king comes along "…another great eagle with large feathers…"—Egypt (Ezekiel 17:15). So the vine shifts its allegiance bowing to the new power, perhaps hoping to placate any Egyptian attempts to overrun and overpower Judah. But it doesn't work out so well. The new power plunders the vine, then neglects it so that when the "east wind" (interpreted as Nebuchadnezzar and his army) comes along it "utterly withers."

The prophetic meaning of this parable aside, it is also a picture to me of what a difference one's vine-source makes.

Here Zedekiah (the vine) looks to Babylon and then Egypt to sustain his power. His kingdom does well as long as Babylon is benevolent. But Egypt is another story. When he tries to curry favor with the new power, disaster.

I ask, from where does the vine we're attached to, I'm attached to, get its life?  Am I, at the most basic level, depending on God, attached to Jesus, so that when circumstances change in my life, the sap of my supply keeps flowing anyway?

Or am I looking to other things to sustain me—things like my health, my savings, the political peace of my country, the well-being of my family? If the "east wind" blew in my life, when it blows, will  I still be vigorous and fruit-bearing, or withered and easily uprooted?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, please help me to be securely attached to You, so that no circumstance will interrupt Your flow of life in me. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 35

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jerusalem’s story - part 3

U-Turns allowed (Image: Pixabay)

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 16:44-63

TO CHEW ON: “And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done, says the LORD GOD.’” Ezekiel 16:62,63


Jerusalem continued to deteriorate in God’s eyes. She had spurned Him as her husband and gone after idolatrous lovers. Her sins were worse than those of her sister cities (and their daughters—their suburbs and  surrounding villages), big sister Samaria and little sister Sodom.

God named specific sins: pride, gluttony, idleness, callousness to the poor, committing “abominations” [abomination: toebah = a disgusting thing, in a ritual sense of unclean food, idols, mixed marriages, in an ethical sense of wickedness etc.]

The Bible commenter Matthew Henry draws our attention to the height from which Jerusalem has fallen:

“Jerusalem had the temple, and the ark, and the priesthood, and kings of the house of David; and therefore the wickedness of that holy city, that was so dignified, so near, so dear to God, was more provoking to him than the wickedness of Sodom and Samaria, that had not Jerusalem’s privileges and means of grace.” - Matthew Henry Commentary, accessed through BibleGateway.com.

God saw only one solution for Jerusalem. It came from Him and was given not because Jerusalem deserved His mercy but because He doesn’t go back on His word—His covenant (Ezekiel 16:60). 

The atonement He will provide  (I believe a prophecy of Jesus’ atoning death on the cross) will pay for all they have done (Ezekiel 16:63). 

His grace will soften even Jerusalem’s rebellious heart (“Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed…”), a picture Ezekiel paints so beautifully in other places like Ezekiel 11:19,20:

“Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.”

Though this passage is a prophecy concerning a city in the Middle East and an ethnic people, it also shows us a side of God that relates to us. Though we may violate our covenant with Him, backslide, and commit the most awful sins, He is willing to accept us back (Isaiah 1:18). All it takes is our own repentance (“…remember your ways and be ashamed…” - Ezekiel 16:61, also Luke 13:3, Acts 3:19; 8:22). For us too the atonement He made is sufficient (1 Peter 3:18).

PRAYER: Dear father, help me to detect signs and symptoms of rebellion within me before they fruit into backsliding. Help me to be quick to repent. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jerusalem's story - part 2

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 16:23-43

TO CHEW ON: "You are an adulterous wife who takes strangers instead of her husband." Ezekiel 16:32

Yesterday we saw how God rescued Jerusalem from her hopeless beginnings as an unwanted newborn. He nourished her until she was grown, then took her as His wife. He dressed her in extravagant garments, adorned her with expensive jewelry, and pampered her with the finest food. She was His queen (Ezekiel 16:1-14).

Today we read her heartbreaking response. Confident in her beauty and secure in her position, she began misusing her husband's benefits to cheat on Him. Our reading is a list of how she did that.

• She flung herself at whoever would have her.

• She used her royal garments to decorate "high places"—shrines where she worshiped idols.

• She recast the precious metal of her jewelry into idol images.

• She used the cosmetics and food her Husband supplied as idol offerings.

• She offered the children of their union to idols.

• She wasn't a normal prostitute who took payment for her services. Instead she was so intent on getting new lovers, she paid whoever would come to her.

Yesterday we likened ourselves to Jerusalem, seeing how we are like that cast-out helpless newborn who God rescued, redeemed, and married.  But we would never act like today's unfaithful wife, would we?

How close we come. For don't we:

• Misuse God's benefits to us, employing them to gratify our desires and establish our own little empires. To impress? To be entertained?

• Push our children toward the idols we serve, idols of money, fame, beauty, success, sensuous gratification, leisure, sports, etc.?

And notice how innocently it all begins: by trusting in our own abilities and achievements, and misusing our blessings ("But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame…" Ezekiel 16:15) forgetting from whom they come and for what purpose they were given.


PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to recognize within myself the tendencies toward unfaithfulness to You. May it never be said of me, "You are an adulterous wife who takes strangers instead of her husband." Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jerusalem's story - part 1

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem - James Tissot

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 16:1-22

TO CHEW ON: "'Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendour which I had bestowed on you,' says the Lord God." Ezekiel 16:14

In allegory form Ezekiel tells the story of Jerusalem. Born in the land of Canaan of mixed parentage (Amorite and Hittite), she was neglected at birth. No one cut her umbilical cord or washed her skin with salt to keep bacteria from growing. She wasn't swaddled in cloths or nurtured—things parents do for a wanted baby. Instead "'you were thrown out into the open field when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born'" - Ezekiel 16:4.

Then God turned things around. "'And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, "Live!" Yes, I said to you in your blood, "Live!"'" - Ezekiel 16:6. Wow!

God nurtured her until she was mature and beautiful—also innocent and naive. For on seeing her developing beauty, He claimed her as His own, before anyone else could,  and clothed her. Notice the picture of the covering her with His wing (Ezekiel 16:8). We've seen that before—in the story of Boaz and Ruth (Ruth 2:12; 3:9).

Again He washed her and anointed her with oil. He dressed her in the most expensive garments and she was adorned with dazzling jewelry. He gave her the best food. Her reputation for beauty was unmatched. She was His queen.

In addition to this allegory being the story of Jerusalem, I see in it the story of what God does for us.

Spiritually we're as helpless and neglected as baby Jerusalem. But God passes by and speaks "Live!" over us too. He nurtures us by human and divine means using our families, friends, the church, His word and prayer.

The decision to give Him our lives could be likened to accepting His proposal of marriage. Then He clothes us with the beautiful dress of righteousness and hides us under His protecting wing.

As we live with Him, feeding on the riches of His word and living by it, He makes us even more beautiful. How could Jerusalem—how could we—ever remove ourselves from such a delightful place? Yet, as we will see tomorrow, Jerusalem did.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for pronouncing "Live" over my life. Help me to appreciate my position in You. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.