Passage Read: Ezekiel 4-7
Meditation Verses: 5:7-8
Thought
The Lord chose Israel and established them as a nation, so that they might walk in His decrees and regulations, so that He could bless them so richly that all the surrounding nations would marvel at their God and come to learn about Him. Instead, they became worse than all the nations around them. They didn't uphold God's law by carrying it out, and they didn't even abide by the standards of the nations around them. They embarrassed themselves and dragged God's name through the mud, as if their God allowed greater perversion and disloyalty than any of the gods around them.
Application
The Lord chose me and remade me to walk in His ways, not to make me rich or to give me power, but to show His preciousness by my loyalty and submission to His will, and by my proclamation of His name. Especially in my poverty and generosity, and in being hated by the world. I should be more righteous and holy than the unbelievers around me, not less. If I acknowledge Him before men, by word and by obedience, He will acknowledge me before His Father, and exalt me over those who hated Him and me when He comes to reign.