Ezekiel 16-18

There is a pretty intense metaphor for what the people have done here. I mean intense. And a very nice accusation that Sodom had nothing on them (Sodom’s sin was: “pride… did not aid the poor…” so… injustice and oppression. Not that other thing). But it’s chapter 18 I want to focus on. Personal responsibility. …

Ezekiel 13-15

God is a very jealous god. He really does not tolerate idolatry. All of this destruction and suffering is the result of the people violating their covenant and worshipping other gods. But there are few things that will escalate God’s jealousy to full wrath. He will not tolerate the corruption of justice, which the people …

Ezekiel 9-12

All right. I don’t really have anything passage significant today. So I’m going to take this opportunity to remind whoever happens to be reading that it is perfectly all right to be down right confused by a passage of Scripture. It is good idea to look for help from pastors, friends, books, podcasts, blogs, what …

Ezekiel 5-8

There are some pretty horrible things in these prophecies. It’s all pretty extreme. Jealousy. Fury. And in the middle, God says that the people will despise their gold and silver because it cannot deliver them. They can’t buy their way out of judgment. More, the gods they formed out of gold and silver cannot deliver …

Ezekiel 1-4

Several different things today. First, his vision is so bizarre, so, well, disturbing. I don’t think that’s actually what anything looks like. I doubt if anyone else were to see the exact same creatures, the exact same revelation, it would look exactly the same. I think it’s just to make it very clear how very …

Lamentations 4-5

Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!… … unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us. There is something so very human in these last verses. Here’s everything we’ve suffered. It’s been so long. We understand why it’s all happened, why it’s like this, but maybe …

Jeremiah 51-52

So Babylon faces judgment for sins against Judah. On the surface, this doesn’t seem entirely right, does it? God uses Babylon to punish Judah, and then he turns around and punishes Babylon for how they treated Judah. Except, God doesn’t make Babylon do anything. I think a far better way to say it would be: …

Jeremiah 49-50

There was one line that caught my attention in the middle of these prophecies of judgment. “If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished?” God never said that only bad people will suffer, that suffering is earned, deserved, somehow, that pain is judgment. Sometimes it is, …