Ezekiel 33:2-6

(Editor’s Note: This (late) daily devotion is written by Christiaan, one of the board members of TDMI, as William is currently hospitalized. Your prayers for his speedy and complete recovery are appreciated).

Verse of the Day Devotion – Ezekiel 33:2-6 (NLT)

“Son of man, give your people this message: ‘When I bring an army against a country, the people of that land choose one of their own to be a watchman. When the watchman sees the enemy coming, he sounds the alarm to warn the people. Then if those who hear the alarm refuse to take action, it is their own fault if they die. They heard the alarm but ignored it, so the responsibility is theirs. If they had listened to the warning, they could have saved their lives. But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t sound the alarm to warn the people, he is responsible for their captivity. They will die in their sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths.” – Ezekiel 33:2-6 (NLT)

Ezekiel is in a pickle. It’s 605 b.c. … ish. God has given him a message to the Israelites. They’re not going to like it. If they ignore his message it’ll get a lot worse for them. But if they listen, they could be saved. It would be much easier if they would just do the right thing from the beginning but Israel isn’t in exile by choice. They’ve continually rejected the prophets the God has sent them.

What is Ezekiel to do? if he tells the people the truth of what happens, how will they respond? Will they get angry? or potentially worse, will they ignore his warning?

It seems to me that there are few worse things than when you KNOW what will happen, and you warn an individual not to do something, they do it anyway, and the consequences are the same if not worse than what you had warned. As someone who often finds himself in that position, I hate being right, and I often question if I made the right decision, if I wasn’t clear enough. If MAYBE, I had said something else, or worded it a different way, maybe they would have made a different decision. This type of guilt can disable a person. ESPECIALLY if the consequences have lasting effects and affect other innocent people.

So, right after God tells Ezekiel to let the Egyptians know that they’re all about to die, and before Ezekiel calls out the leadership of Israel (again). God gives a message to the Israelites about Ezekiel, which doubles as a form of reassurance to Ezekiel. He’s telling the Israelites that they need to listen to the watchmen that he gives them, and it’s not the watchman’s fault, they can’t blame Ezekiel for the consequences of their actions. But in the same way God is telling Ezekiel, that so long as Ezekiel is giving Israel God’s message, then it’s not Ezekiel’s fault. All he has to do is be obedient, and it’s up to the Israelites to do the right thing, and if they don’t they’re responsible for their own consequences.

But what do we do when we aren’t directly given words by God to speak to a situation, but we’ve been thrust into a situation where there is no clear direction? How can we share the warning, information, or even inspiration in a way that doesn’t alienate people? I know that there have been a number of times, I’ve shared a truth, I felt needed and called to share, but my method turned people away from it. In situations like that, I think we could look to a scene that takes place in the middle book of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Two Towers. If you’re not familiar with it there’s a scene that takes place at a castle type structure called Helms Deep. A major protagonist, Théoden, king of the country of Rohan, has retreated to this keep which had never been taken by enemies. The stakes, couldn’t be higher. They’re outnumbered thousands to one, they’re undertrained, way less prepared, and if they fail, all of Middle Earth will fall to darkness and evil. In the afternoon before the battle this conversation happens between Théoden and another character named Aragorn. Théoden is speaking in a slightly louder voice then normal as they walk throughout the castle as his subjects are preparing the defenses.

Théoden: “They will break upon this fortress like water on rock. Saruman’s hordes will pillage and burn, we’ve seen it before. Crops can be resown. Homes rebuilt. Within these walls, we will outlast them.

Aragorn: “They do not come to destroy Rohan’s crops or villages. They come to destroy its people. Down to the last child!”

Théoden (his voice in an intense whisper): “What would you have me do? Look at my men. Their courage hangs by a thread. If this is to be our end, then I would have them make such an end as to be worthy of remembrance!”

Théoden to Aragorn, The Two Towers (Movie)

“What would you have me do?”

Théoden’s response is a great example because Théoden walks a balanced line between giving people a hope that isn’t false and obsessing with the despair of their current situation. This balance brings him into conflict with Aragorn, who doesn’t think that Théoden is taking this seriously enough. Aragorn, has seen the army coming to destroy them and Théoden hasn’t. Aragorn has Théoden’s people and Théoden’s best interests at heart, but ultimately the decision was up to Théoden with how to act.

A great comparison is in the movies when Théoden sees the hordes of Isengard and his reaction
and that of Denathor’s reaction at the hordes of Mordor.

Like it or not, we are thrust into situations we aren’t prepared for, without all the answers, and no clear directions. God in his message to Ezekiel makes it clear what our responsibilities are, while Théoden gives us a great example of balance in sharing a hard truth in an inspirational way, without deceit.

Mark 3:4-5

Verse of the Day – Mark 3:4-5.

“Jesus asked them [the Pharisees], “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in Anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.” – Mark 3:4-5

To set the stage for this interaction, right after telling the Pharisees that he is Lord of the Sabbath in Mark 2, Jesus arrives at the synagogue and sees a man with a shriveled hand and the Pharisees who were lying in wait for Jesus to make a mistake. Jesus tells the man to stand up and then looks at the Pharisees, knowing their hearts, and asks them if it’s lawful to do good and save a life, or to do evil and kill.

They remain silent.

Jesus gets angry.

This story was originally told in the Greek, and the word Anger that was used is transliterated as, orgē which can be translated as; he was impulsively wrathful, or indignant. This wrath caused by injustice is in the “Aorist’” tense, which means it’s temporary, it exists and then goes away. Jesus has an emotional reaction to their silence – and it’s justified. And I think this shows us there’s nothing inherently wrong with anger, it’s what we do with it – how we respond to it, if we let it control us – that makes it right or wrong. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:26 (NLT), “Don’t sin by letting anger control you.”

Jesus takes this, orgē, this anger, mixed with disappointment, mixed with sadness at the hardness of the hearts of the Pharisees, and tells the man to stretch out his hand and Jesus restores the shriveled hand to the way it should have been.

Mark tells us that in response to Jesus healing the man, the Pharisees began plotting about how to, “do away with” Jesus. The phrase “do away with” doesn’t begin to describe the unfettered rage they felt. In the Greek the phrase is, “apollymi” which means “to utterly destroy,” “to bring to naught,” or “to be made void.”

These are two complete opposite responses.

Jesus’ response made the world a better place – it brought healing, life, and restoration. The Pharisees responded with a fierce vengeance whose result would be to completely destroy Jesus.

How we respond to anger, injustice, and evil in the world matters. We must follow Jesus’ example:

  1. Jesus acknowledged that which needed to be changed and shined a light on it in a non-condemnatory way when he asked the man to step forward.
  2. Jesus asked questions to cause the Pharisees and his enemies to question their beliefs – calling them out without being insulting or accusatory.
  3. When their response angered him, he channeled that anger into creative, restorative power that brought peace into the world and made it a better place.
    1. His anger wasn’t selfish. He didn’t lash out allow that righteous anger to control him.
  4. He continued to unapologetically live his life and walk in his calling, unafraid of the repercussions. He did not let the instance and the Pharisee’s continued response affect his ministry.

When you respond to your anger does it make the world better? Do you channel that anger, that sense of justice, that innate feeling in your spirit that tells you something is wrong, into restoration and peace like Jesus or do you take that and fuel feelings of rage and destruction like the Pharisees?

If you’re struggling with following Jesus’ example in this situation amidst these times, please send a prayer request to us through the contact page or to our prayer request e-mail. We keep these requests confidential unless you give us permission to share.

  • Christiaan Funkhouser

Luke 19:40

Verse of the Day – Luke 19:40

“Jesus answered, I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting.” Luke 19:40 

Yesterday, in the devotion of Luke 17:18-19 I shared the ultimate result of Jesus’ coming to earth. Those things were to share the Good News with the poor. To proclaim that Captives will be released, the blind see, the oppressed set free and that the Lord’s favor was here. In this account of what happened according to Luke, the people were crying out, “God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to God!” the Pharisees get upset at this ruckus and complain to Jesus to get his followers to be quiet. Jesus, replies with the verse.

I don’t personally think the Pharisees were always being antagonistic.
I think sometimes, they legit just didn’t agree with something, or thought something was improper.
In this case, the cries of the people were literally treasonous to the Roman government.
And if Jesus was a normal person (as the Pharisee’s believed) it’s not out of line to want to avoid the attention of the Romans.

I see two ways of interpreting this verse. The first is an extremely positive one that creation testifies to the truth of Jesus. That no matter what God will accomplish his desires and use whatever means to do it – whether it be rocks or like in Number 22:21-39, a donkey.

The second, and potentially more controversial one is an admonition to Christians. Because sometimes non-Christians act more like Christ than we do, and it’s demoralizing – especially when it speaks to something that is at the core of Christianity and the devil uses this type of technique all the time. An innate desire within humans is to be loved, be accepted, and be able to live in the freedom of who we were meant to be – these desires transcend religion, race, culture, and gender. And I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen someone struggling with a sin that isn’t one of the ignored sins like lust, pornography, anger, jealousy, or some sort of over indulgence be rejected and condemned by the church instead of loved and encouraged to find their identity in Christ who alone can help them overcome their sin. Because of this they seek to be accepted and loved by others, who oftentimes encourage the individual to find their identity in their sin. See, in cases like this the stones are crying out, and the devil is using it to his advantage. The individual struggling with the sin doesn’t realize their identity, based in sin, is a shallow husk of their true identity in Christ, and because of how they were treated they aren’t going to be interested in learning more about that.

Another instance where the rocks cry out because the church won’t/isn’t stepping up in situations of charity. Consider a situation where a church may spend a few million dollars on a new building with mahogany wood trim when there’s a homeless/resource crisis going on and that money could have been used to help the poor instead. In cases like this, the church isn’t necessarily in sin, but if the church isn’t going to help the people in the community, God will raise up a secular charity to do so.

We as Christians have to stand up and take our rightful place back from the rocks. We have the resurrected Son of God living within us, able to do more than we could ever imagine and when we decide to join him in his desire to proclaim good news and freedom we get to see and be part of God’s work here on earth in ways we’d never be able to guess.

  • Christiaan

Luke 4:18-19

Verse of the Day – Luke 4:18-19

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” – Luke 4:18-19 (NLT)

Jesus was teaching in a synagogue and was handed the scroll of Isaiah where he specifically looked for this verse so he could read about himself. Here, in this moment, Jesus summed up the result of his putting on flesh and coming down to earth. He told Nicodemus in John 3:17 that his purpose was to save the world and not to condemn it, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (NIV) but here he is telling the people in Nazareth what the result would be and what that would look like.

It should be noted the word for world in the Greek is Kosmos which means the entirety of sentient life.

I love the nuance used here and revealed in the NLT vs other translations. Jesus isn’t just making an empty campaign promise, that under his rule he wants X and Y to happen. But instead a direct result of his presence here on earth will lead to captives being released, the blind seeing, and the oppressed to be set free. In the Greek the word for “captives” literally means people who have been captured in contrast to that “the oppressed” being spoke of are people who have been broken, shattered, and shivering as a result of being crushed by the cruelty of their oppressors.

God makes five promises that apply in different ways to the spiritual self and the physical self:

1st: When you’ve been reduced to a lowly state, when you’re spiritually and physically bankrupt, begging for help, God has good news for you. Jesus uses the word, Euangelizo, which to the original audience would have been associated as a message from the Ceasars letting the people know that that the Ceasar had brought peace, freedom, justice, and prosperity to his new empire. Jesus is providing hope to people who may have lost it.

2nd: Whether you’re a captive to your sin or a literal captive for whatever reason. You will be released. Jesus doesn’t state when it will happen, or that it has already happened, he promises that you will be released from it. I think this works a lot like the season aspect that I wrote about earlier.

3rd: I can’t help but be reminded of the lyrics of Amazing Grace, “I once was blind, but now I see.” when I think about spiritual blindness and of course, there’s the physical healing and restoration of sight that God is able to do and still does today!

4th: I love how Jesus is constantly reminding us that there are people under an oppression that isn’t captivity. This type of oppression is more insidious, in my opinion, because it has a pretense of freedom. Jesus is telling us however, that no matter what you go through, no matter what has been done to you, no matter what has happened to break your spirits, there is hope. This is definitely a But God situation. Jesus is here to proclaim that Jonah 2:6 is still relevant to us today, “I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O LORD my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!” (NLT)

5th: is the statement that because of Jesus’s arrival here on earth, the time of the Lord’s favor is available to us. We don’t have to do anything to receive this. If you’re a Christian, Jesus has already arrived and we don’t have to or send any gifts to preachers on TV to attain the favor of the Lord. And we will probably never fully understand the many ways in which this favor manifests itself but we can trust that it exists.

There’s so much more to unpack from this verse and there have been numerous books written about it. But for now, just remember what Jesus said when he closed up the scroll: “The scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

– Christiaan

 

Romans 8:3

Verse of the Day – Romans 8:3

“It is impossible to do what God’s standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has. But God sent his Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin. That way God condemned sin in our corrupt nature.” Romans 8:3 (GWT)

When I was a child we attended a local Calvary Chapel church, the pastor there was a very unique. He was a drummer back in the 70’s (if I remember right). My family left that church in 2003 for a number of reasons I won’t get into but to this day, he’s one of the few people I would look to and consider my pastor – he is the personification of the concept of being forgiven much and therefore loving much. There was a time we went through the book of Romans (at the time my favorite book of the bible) and during that period of time, it wouldn’t be uncommon for the pastor to tear up on stage talking about the grace of God given to us. I remember looking through the passage we were going to read for two specific and simple words that would lead to him crying, and unbeknownst to me leave such an impression on me that twenty years later, I would be writing about them in a daily devotion…

But God.

These two words, I would argue aside from “I Am” as used in John, are two of the most powerful words in all of scripture when put together. Whenever you see these two words together they are typically placed after a description of impossibilities or dispair. But God is a phrase that denotes a moment in time where the creator of the universe chose to step into time and space to stop the natural order of things and personally intervene in the affairs of men.

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20 (NIV)

“They refused to obey and did not remember the miracles you had done for them. Instead, they became stubborn and appointed a leader to take them back to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love. You did not abandon them…” Nehemiah 9:17 (NLT)

“But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself.” Psalms 49:15 (NIV)

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26 (NIV)

“I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O LORD my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!” Jonah 2:6 (NLT)

“Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” Matthew 19:26 (NLT)

“But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.” Acts 2:24 (NLT)

“You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.” Acts 3:15a (NIV)

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NIV)

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” 1st Corinthians 1:27 (NIV)

“It is impossible to do what God’s standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has. But God sent his Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin.” Romans 8:3a (GWT)

Your past is completed. Your sins have been committed but the future isn’t set. God still breaks through the realms of time and space to disrupt the natural order of death and life, the schemes of angel and demons, our own sabotaging of our lives through fears and worry, and the entirety of the powers of the kingdom of Hell so he can finish the good work he started in you, the role that he has for you in his plan, and to accomplish Jesus’s prayer of ‘as in heaven so on earth’.

  • Christiaan

(Edited to correct a misstatement about my former pastor being from California – turns out he’s a Georgia boy.)

1 Corinthians 10:13

Verse of the Day – 1 Corinthians 10:13

“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)

It’s me again, Christiaan, if you missed yesterday’s study, you can reference it here: Ecclesiastes 3:1 as I want to build on some of the things I covered yesterday.

If you grew up in church, ever had a sunday school, been to youth group, or if you’re a guy been to any sort of men’s group, you’re familiar with this verse. It’s almost exclusively used in terms of temptation. And that’s not surprising. Almost every translation (28/31) uses the term temptation.

But what if temptation isn’t really the best term? The bible that we have is largely translated into our native language from either Hebrew or Greek. Tools like the Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament (MOUNCE) give us a better idea of what was really intended because it’s the most literal translation out there. It takes the individual words in Greek, factors in the tenses, and gives us an exact English phrasing. The biggest problem is that it’s not always readable.

“No trial has overtaken you that is not distinctively human; and God is faithful; he will not let you be tested beyond what you can bear, but with the trial [He] will also provide the way through, so that you will be able to endure it.” – 1st Corinthians 10:13 (MOUNCE)

The word that’s translated in Trial/Test/Temptation is the Greek word, Peirasmos, which when used in scripture can mean anything from “direct temptation to sin,” being put on trial or suffering a “trial, calamity, and affliction.”

This is much deeper than just a temptation to sin, which while true isn’t the complete and total truth. Paul is telling us that nothing we go through is ultimately unique, and this can provide comfort in the fact that we know we’re not alone. It also tells us that that no matter what trial, calamity, or affliction we face, God will provide us a way to get through it so we can endure.

When paired with the two translations of Ecclesiastes 3:1 from yesterday: “Everything has a season, and a time for every matter under the heavens.” (Alter) and “Everything that happens in the world happens at a time God chooses.” GNT we can agree upon the following truths:

  • Trials, calamities, afflictions, temptations and everything we go through has a season. Just as they began at one point, they’ll end.
  • You’re not alone in your suffering, others have and will go through suffering like you are at some point.
  • God won’t prevent you from going through these seasons, but he will ensure that you can endure them and one of the ways that God does this is by his choosing the time to have you go through it.

And that is an encouraging thought.

Christiaan.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

January 28th, 2020

“Everything has a season, and a time for every matter under the heavens.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1 (Alter)

If today’s verse sounds familiar to you, but you can’t quite put your finger on it, it’s because I’m using a translation from Robert Alter. He’s the premier US scholar of the Hebrew language and has done his own translation of the entire Hebrew scriptures. Ecclesiastes is an interesting book. It’s one of those books that has a lot of wisdom, but isn’t something that’s taught on Sunday mornings. I believe it’s because of the fact you have to unpack the book with other scripture as context to fully appreciate it. In cases like this specific verse, it seems to just acknowledge a fact about life that isn’t particularly spiritual. In fact, it was picked up and became mainstream in secular culture over fifty-five years ago. You might be familiar with it:

“To everything (turn, turn, turn) there is a season (turn, turn, turn) and a time to every purpose, under heaven.” – Turn! Turn! Turn! (The Byrds)

Just like in the song, this passage of scripture is very poetic. Solomon, the writer of the book, hid what we would today call easter eggs within the poem. After making the declaration about the seasons, Solomon specifically chooses seven verses that outline opposite or opposing things: being born/dying, weeping/laughing, mourning/dancing, loving/hating, seeking/accepting it’s lost, and one of the more unique ones according to Alter, “A time to embrace and a time to pull back from embracing.” The hidden easter egg is the significance of the seven verses to Jewish culture. Seven being a sacred number, was something that would have been ingrained into the minds of the young children for as long as they could remember. Growing up in a western culture, we don’t really have anything like this to relate to. In movies it would be like how when the hero’s theme starts playing, we know that the hero is on his/her way and we can relax because all is about to be well.

Solomon using the number seven was an assertion that all of these things were ultimately sacred, and that he wasn’t just being poetic – there was a purpose. When we pair this with the fact that he used the extremes across all parts of life it would have signaled the original readers/listeners to realize this wasn’t just about those specific things. When Solomon said in verse four that there was a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. He was describing all of our possible emotions. The good and bad times emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

The interesting thing about verse 3:1 is that it almost seems different depending on the translation. In the Alter translation it reads as though Solomon is acknowledging that there are things that are going to happen in life, and there’s a season for it and much like the weather, there’s nothing we can do about it. There will be birth and death, mourning and dancing, and all that we can do is enjoy it when it’s great, and weather the storm when it’s bad. Then, there’s the Good News Translation (GNT)

(I know, weird translation right?
But it’s the translation of the first bible that my mom was given after becoming a Christian and had little doodles in it.
I read it a lot as a child, and some of the phrasings really stuck out to me so I like to look up individual verses in the GNT).

“Everything that happens in the world happens at a time God chooses.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 GNT

While the Alter translation talks about the events of our life being seasonal with beginnings and ends and things that seem to be inevitable. The GNT talks about how it doesn’t matter what happens, “Everything that happens in the world happens at a time God chooses.” It’s a reassurance that no matter what season you’re in God is orchestrating things. And to quote Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring, “… that is an encouraging thought.”

Tomorrow, I’m going to share another verse that I think will help solidify some of the claims I made in this devotion. Thanks for reading!

  • Christiaan

Introduction to Christiaan

Guest Writer: Christiaan Funkhouser

Hey everyone!

Christiaan here, William has had some personal family issues that require him to be out of state and due to the sensitive and emotional drain he isn’t taking his laptop. In short, he’s ok, and I’m sure he’ll tell you about it upon his return on February 4th. Until then, he asked me to do the devotions.

For those of you who don’t know, I serve as Secretary on the board of TDMI and I also help out with marketing and branding.

I graduated with my Master of Divinity in Christian Education from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I speak at conferences across the south east (and have even taught outside of the United States). I love literature, pop culture, movies, and the like so I tend to reference those for analogies throughout my talks/devotions because I feel it’s important to be able to have a point of relation to the topic.

The good news is that if you hate my style, William will be returning soon. The good is also that if you love my style, you’ll find the same if not better essence in William’s devotions.

I’ve decided for at least the first two devotions they’ll be working together, referencing each other to lead to a greater point and I’m really excited to share with you what God’s been showing me about things.

  • Christiaan