Thoughts for the Day

Thus says the Lord God ... 'I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God'.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Moving house is a very dirty and tiring business! No matter how clean your home is it's amazing what happens at the back of large pieces of furniture, never mind the garage and the shed. At the end of a hot, day when one is exhausted needing only to sleep, it's wonderful to refresh oneself under a shower or in a bath. Coming out we feel new-made!

Ezekiel renews his prophecy for Israel. The people will return from Babylon one day. God will gather them to Himself in the future, and will restore them again. However for many, God's promise was not to be sufficient (as we saw in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra recently), for their hearts were still made of stone. And when the Holy Spirit descended on those new Christians in Jerusalem at Pentecost many still could not accept God's offer to be their God, but turned again to pagan and worldly gods!

Today it is the same God who wants to give us His Spirit - He wants us to turn to Him and to become more like Him - to feel clean and refreshed and new-made as His loving children.

Heavenly Father,
Ezekiel called Your people
to return to You in faith;
to trust in Your promises
that the nation would return
to Israel one day,
yet many failed to heed his call.
May we hear Your voice today,
that calls us to live a faithful life,
and reject all secular attractions
that pull us away from You.
Amen.