Walking the Way: A daily devotional

Ezekiel 10:4 And the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord.    Thought for the day – Ichabod Here’s the Hebrew word for the day. Ichabod. Most people will associate it with Ichabod Crane, The main character in the story of the Headless Horseman. But we first read about ichabod in the book of 1 Samuel where we read that the glory of the Lord has departed. Ichabod itself means no glory. And it's essentially the theme of today's chapter in Ezekiel. The glory of the Lord slowly leaves the Temple of Jerusalem. And that's a hard one for me. So we read in the books of Kings and the books of Chronicles how the glory of the Lord fills the temple as God comes down to his new resting place. In Ezekiel chapter 10 we see that process reversed.   The entire chapter is filled with this amazing imagery of cherubim and the glory of God. And I wo...

Ezekiel 9:4 And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.   Thought for the day – Marked Here’s the Greek word for the day. Sphragis. Just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it. It means sealed. And it’s a pattern that we see in Scripture, most notably Ezekiel and the book of Revelation. That sense that God seals his people. Particularly during times of persecution and trial.   So, Ezekiel’s vision has a man with a writing block going round marking those who grieve what grieves God. And then the executioners are let loose on Jerusalem. The Sphragis, the mark, or seal is what distinguishes those spared from those who are struck. The mark is a sign of ownership, belonging and protection during times of judgement.   But in Revelation we see the opposite. Those who reject God are marked with the sign of the bea...

Ezekiel 8:5 God said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked toward the north, and there in the entrance to the north gate beside the altar, I saw the idol that stirs up God ’ s anger.   Thought for the day – Look North Here's what gets me about this verse. The idol isn't out in the city somewhere. It's not in some pagan temple down the road. It's right there — by the gate of the altar. In God's own house. Tucked in right next to the place where people came to worship. And God says to Ezekiel: look. Lift up your eyes. Don't pretend you can't see it. I find that uncomfortable, if I'm honest. Because it's easy to spot the idols out there — the obvious ones, other people's ones. It's much harder to notice the one I've quietly parked next to my own faith. The thing I've come to lean on more than God. The habit, the worry, the ambition, the grudge I keep warm. Wesley believed grace doesn't just forgive us...

Ezekiel 7:6 The end is coming. The end is coming. It is stirring itself up against you. It is coming!  Thought for the day – The end is nigh! According the a Pew report in 2010, 75% of Christians in the US believe that Christ will return. That’s down from 79% in 2006. Of those who believe Jesus will return only about 1 in 10 believe Jesus will return within their lifetime. So for the majority of believers, the end is nigh, but not imminently. What a change from the early church who firmly held that Christ’s return was imminent. Granted that was nearly 2000 years ago, no wonder the idea of Jesus returning seems more like a distant promise than a close reality. Where do you sit with this? Are you of the belief that Christ’s return is imminent, within your lifetime, Or is it something we just long for and most likely won’t see this side of eternity during our lifetime? And what does Scripture say about Jesus’ return? There are effectively 6 principles: 1. The return will be visible ...

  Ezekiel 6:15 I will use my power against them and destroy the land, from the desert to Diblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord. Thought for the day – When will they learn? I was watching the movie Sully recently. It's the movie about the pilot that landed his passenger jet in the Hudson River in New York. And one of the things that struck me most about that was just how people seemed to think that they knew better than Sully did about what had happened. The simulations, everything, just seemed to be rigged against Sully and his co-pilot. And it got me thinking about when will we learn. The whole point of the movie was about the bravery of Sully and his courage to stand up and be counted and stand up for the truth. And yet the authorities seemed dead set to disprove him.  When would they learn?  And it also got me thinking about how it takes something really horrible happening for us to stop and think about what's gone wrong.  When will we learn? So a...

  Ezekiel 5:15 The nations that are around you will ridicule you and laugh at you. When I punish you because of my anger, fury, and fierce revenge, you will become something ridiculed and something horrible. I, the Lord, have spoken.   Thought for the day – Compassion fatigue I wonder how Ezekiel must have felt getting these prophecies. Living in Babylon, far away from Jerusalem, he was getting prophecies about things that were happening in real time to people that he probably knew and cared about. And yet even here, God was asking Ezekiel to say things to the people of Jerusalem that would have no doubt hurt him and made him worry.   I don't think we can ever understand what Ezekiel was going through. Knowing that what he was prophesying was coming true and then hearing reports of the prophecies coming true.   And while we are never going to be in Ezekiel's position, I wonder how we respond to bad news coming from faraway places. Sometimes I th...