Walking the Way: A daily devotional

  Ezekiel 32:2 “Son of man, lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: You compare yourself to a lion of the nations, but you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, churn up the waters with your feet, and muddy the rivers.”   Thought for the day – Do What? One of the things I am most proud of as someone who grew up in South Africa is the truth and reconciliation commission that was set up after the 1994 elections. It was an opportunity to confront the past and potentially rebuild South Africa for the future. Nationalist Party Leader FW De Klerk and ANC Leader Nelson Mandela worked together to drive through significant changes.   As Christians we were encouraged to pray for the country’s leaders, no matter who they were.   God’s wanted Ezekiel to lament for Pharoah. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. But Ezekiel did. In much the same way people in South Africa were asked to pray for leaders they may not ha...

Ezekiel 31:3 Think of Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches and shady foliage and of lofty height. Its top was among the clouds.   Thought for the day – Compared to what God’s words to Pharoah are a challenge. He is comparing Egypt to Assyria and showing how Egypt will be bought down by Nebuchadnezzar in the same way that Assyria was bought down. The analogy of a majestic tree being growing to it’s full majesty and then being felled by foreigners is a poetic one. And one Pharoah would no doubt have understood. But as I was reading the chapter this morning I found myself thinking who we compare ourselves to. I hate to admit it but as a church leader I often find myself comparing my ministry to the ministry of others. And I was reminded that the Bible talks a lot about comparing ourselves to each other.  Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that we do not dare to class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. And in Galatians he wr...

Ezekiel 30:26 When I disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them among the countries, they will know that I am Yahweh.”   Thought for the day – Atheists and foxholes There’s an old military saying: ‘There are no atheists in a foxhole’. That particular version is from the battle of Battan in 1943 But the reality is, it’s something that’s been in circulation from at least 1914, when the Bishop of Liverpool read out a letter from an unnamed chaplain who had written to him, saying there are no atheists at the front, and men are not ashamed to say that though they have not prayed before, they are praying now. But it’s a reminder that people can and do call out to God in difficult times. Whether it’s the trenches of WW1, the foxholes of WW2 or the bedside of a loved one dying in hospital. It seems that disaster has a way of making us acknowledge God in some way. For the Egyptians it was their exile. For soldiers it may be the dropping of shells. For civilians it c...

Ezekiel 29:15 It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms and never again exalt itself above the nations, and I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations.   Thought for the day – Former glory Babylon conquest of the Near Middle East changed the region irrevocably. Under Amasis II Egypt had enjoyed a relatively period of prosperity though it never quite reached the power it had under previous Pharaohs. They had been beaten by Nebuchadnezzar  at Carchemish in 605 BC and then a final humiliation in 568 BC, twenty odd years after the fall of Jerusalem.     And while Egyptians returned to Egypt 40 years after their own exile, Egypt was then subject to invasions by the Persians in 525 BC at which point it became a province or the Persian empire for over 200 years, and even though there was a time of self rule, Pharaoh Nectanebo II became the last Egyptian to rule Egypt for over 2000 years. Alexander the Great took Egypt in 332 BC, ...

Ezekiel 28:9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” in the presence of those who kill you, though you are but a mortal and no god, in the hands of those who pierce you?   Thought for the day – Namaste Have you ever used the word ‘namaste’. It’s a traditional greeting used in India by Hindus, Buddhists and Jainists. When you say it, you hold your hands together like you’re praying, bow slightly and say ‘namaste’. And in translation it means ‘the sacred in me recognizes the sacred in you’. The god in me recognises the god in you. And I think it has entrenched that new age principle that I am divine. I am my own god. As Christians, we might read that differently. We are not divine, but we are made in the image of God. But we are definitely mortal. I remember having a conversation with someone who had an eclectic approach to faith. She wanted to take the best bits from every religion and incorporate it into her own faith system (her word not mine). She was dying of cancer and want...

Ezekiel 27:33 When your wares came from the seas, you satisfied many peoples; with your abundant wealth and merchandise you enriched the kings of the earth.   Thought for the day – Eternal Father strong to save When I was training to be a minister, I had the opportunity to visit the Queen Victoria Seafarers Rest. It’s a program run by the Methodist Church as an outreach to seafarers. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here before, but my family has a long tradition of being seafarers. My Dad was a communications specialist in the Royal Navy; I had an uncle that served as a submariner; and my grandad served on a destroyer. I also have friends who serve in the merchant navy and from my time in Cornwall I know lots of people who are fisherman. I spent three months of my life aboard a ship as a project manager back in 2000. I have a huge respect and love for seafarers.   Seafarers are a special group of people who put their lives on the line for us on a regular basis. T...