Category: Year C

Ezekiel 11:1-25

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Ezekiel is one of those Old Testament prophets that thoroughly uncovered the true state of the heart.  Through a series of visions given to Ezekiel for the Israelite exiles, one of the main messages of the prophet is that God would give them a new heart.  “I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them.  I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.  And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”
 
            The human heart is fallen, often dark with evil shadows of pride and selfishness.  At best, the heart apart from God contains a miniscule vestige of its ancient Creator’s image; at worst, the heart is desperately wicked and on a highway to hell.  The issue, then, is whether the heart only needs to be modified, or whether we need a complete heart transplant.  The prophet makes it quite clear which option must be done.
 
            Jesus Christ sacrificed himself on the cross so that we could be transformed into new people.  He did not come to tweek a few things in your life and improve it – he came to change and transform your heart.  If all we needed was a motivational speaker who would inspire our hearts to live better and reach our personal goals, then we would have not needed an incarnation, a crucifixion, a resurrection, and ascension.  Jesus is the risen Lord and Savior who replaces our hard stubborn hearts with a soft new heart of flesh.  We need transformation of life, not life modification.
 

 

            Awesome God, you have graciously and surgically removed my old heart bound for destruction and replaced it with a new heart oriented toward living and loving like the Lord Jesus.  May my heart always be inclined to the doing of your will, in the power of your Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Luke 5:1-11

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            One of the most fundamental characteristics of God is that he is generous.  God’s benevolent generosity defines his basic stance toward humanity.  This may not seem overly remarkable with only a cursory thought about God.  Yet, when the infinite holiness of God intersects with the prideful arrogance of sinful people, gracious generosity is the quite unpredictable result.
 
            On one occasion, Peter was going about his business fishing in the Sea of Galilee.  Having not yet encountered Jesus, Peter met him and came under his teaching.  After Jesus was finished speaking, he told Peter to put the boat out and cast his nets.  Peter, an experienced fisherman and knowledgeable about the water, knew that he would not catch anything.  But, out of deference to Christ, he did so, anyway.  The result was such a large catch of fish that the nets nearly broke from the weight.
 
            Peter’s response is instructive.  He fell at the feet of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”  Peter understood that he had no faith in Jesus.  He rightly discerned that he did not deserve such generosity from Jesus, an overflowing abundance that was given to him despite his lack of belief.  In the face of such grace, in the vortex of an incredible mercy, having seen the generosity of God directed squarely at him, Peter left it all behind in order to follow Jesus.
 
            Jesus does not strong-arm us into faith.  His tactics do not involve manipulation through guilt, or mind-twisting others through shaming them.  Instead, God is beautifully and simply himself:  showing grace and generosity in places where one would least expect to find it.  When confronted with such love, what would you do?
 

 

            Gracious God, you sent your Son to me even though I was neither looking for him nor expecting anything from him.  Thank you for breaking-in to my life so that I could break-out for you with glory, honor, and praise.  Amen.

Ezekiel 1:26-2:1

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Our view of God determines our view of life.  A small view of God limits our lives in what we can be and do. Seeing God as little more than wishing for people’s obedience through paltry sacrificial oblations only makes one wonder if God is really able to do much in this world.  But if we have a very large view of God, then there is nothing he cannot do or accomplish in his great big world.  So huge is God that the earth is merely his footstool.
 
            The prophet Ezekiel was given a very grand, majestic, and large vision of God in his majesty and royalty.  The glimpse of God which Ezekiel received was so immense that the prophet struggled to put it into words.  Indeed, God is so huge that he cannot be contained or even described by mere words or language.  Now this is the kind of God which Christians serve:  a God so colossal that, like the prophet, it causes us to fall prostrate in the face of such enormous glory and holiness.  Although we must seem very small in God’s eyes, yet he still notices us.  “Stand on your feet, and I will speak with you,” said God to Ezekiel.
 
            Unless we have a staggering and realistic sense of God’s towering massiveness we will wallow in life’s vicissitudes as if they are giants we cannot overcome.  It was Jesus who said that it only takes faith the size of a mustard seed in such a God to command mountains to move, and they will obey.  It is not the size of our belief that matters, but where that faith is located.  And if it placed rightly, in the gargantuan God of the entire universe, then we can ask anything in his Name and it shall be done. 
 

 

            Holy God, you are grand and worthy of all glory, honor, and praise.  Who am I that you should notice me?  Yet, you have called me and spoken to me.  I only want to be found full of faith and obedience each and every day you give to me through the power of your Holy Spirit, in the Name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Psalm 121

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            This is one of my favorites in the entire psalter.  It is a beautiful majestic psalm which can be used for any and every occasion.  So, I often use it when making hospital visits, counseling a wide array of situations, and for my own personal edification.  It seems to me that one cannot possibly overuse this psalm.  The psalm was originally one used for ascending the hill into Jerusalem.  In other words, it anticipates meeting with God.  Just like a lover who looks forward to meeting his beloved and thinking about how wonderful she is, so the psalmist looks with adoring affection on the God he is about to encounter.
 
            The psalm is rich with a theology of grace, watch care, and loving attention.  This is a God who is powerful and merciful, a God able to help and desiring to do so.  In a world that seems so often distant and unaffected by the divine, this is a psalm to repeat over and over again in every situation of life so that the truth of the Lord is engrafted deep into the soul.  In each unwanted circumstance the psalm can be spontaneously used as an immediate prayer, and with every anticipated event it can provide the words to address the most pressing of needs.  Let the words resonate within you as people created in the image of God, connecting with him on both the cerebral and visceral levels of your life:
 
“I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

 

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.” (ESV)