Chronological Bible: Day 254

Reflecting through this medium was very refreshing... I want to try to start posting a bit more over the things that I am learning through blogging. I hope that as you read this, (whoever you are :) ) it encourages you even if its just a bit. 

Day 254: Chronological Bible Reading Plan
Ezekiel 46-48 (plus previous readings of Ezekiel 40-45)

Before anything, I have to confess that reading these last chapters of Ezekiel were a bit rough for me. (Especially chapters 40-43) Here, God is giving Ezekiel a lot of regulations down to every cubit! And... well, at  first, I was kind of bored. I'm terrible with reading maps of any kind, or looking a floor plans. So, yeah- it was hard for me to visualize what God had in mind for his temple. But I toughed it out, and through it I just kept asking myself and God: "Why is this so important?" I mean, there are many books in the Bible where God is giving VERY specific instructions about what his temple should look like, and the specific uses for all the rooms and things found in there. He is very clear as to who can enter, how they can enter, when they can enter, etc. And all these years it has been very easy for me to dismiss passages like this one with the reasoning that its just an old passage from which I can gain no practical application from. (Yikes!-- it sounds even worse putting these thoughts into words!) So as I read Ezekiel 40-41 yesterday, I kept asking the same question... Why is this so important? Why does God want us to read it now... in 2014??? 

Today, as I sip on my Starbucks H2O and eat my Classic Oatmeal...I open up my Bible (app) and I begin to dread having to read yet more instructions of measurements, rules & regulations. And BAM! God answers my question very clearly in Ezekiel 43: 10-12 & Ezekiel 44: 5-6.

Ezequiel 43

10“Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider its perfection, 11and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement, its exits and entrances—its whole design and all its regulationsand laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.

12“This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.

Ezequiel 44

5The Lord said to me, “Son of man, look carefully, listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you concerning all the regulations and instructions regarding the temple of the Lord. Give attention to the entrance to the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary.6Say to rebellious Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Enough of your detestable practices, people of Israel!

God's perfection and beauty are reflected in his plans for the temple, and really the plans for His People. Up to this point, the Israelites have ignored everything he has asked of them. And really all that he requires is for their own good. But they have traded HIM for the sake of their own desires. God is using these passages to bring them to a realization of just how far away they are from God's perfect plan. But what I love about this, is that God doesn't just want them to feel bad and stop there. He hopes that as they see their sin, they will repent. He hopes that as they marvel at the beauty he has in store for them, they can be given HOPE for a new tomorrow. He gives them a glimpse to the restoration that awaits them... if they just repent! 

Connecting it to us... to me, sitting here in 2014. Its amazing how specific God is when it comes to how he wants us to follow him & worship him. Jesus'conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4 comes to mind. Sometimes just like this Samaritan woman, we get so caught up in our ideas of what it is or should be to come to Christ. What it is to follow him and how we are to worship him. 

For the longest I relied heavily on the examples that I had seen of people that went to church, what I felt was right or wrong, or what society deemed as acceptable and unacceptable. I never even gave a serious glance into what GOD had to say about what it means to follow him, what he expects from me, and what true worship is to him. But as I sat down and opened the bible seriously and intentionally looking for answers to the questions I had. I found that God has a very specific way that he wants me to follow in order to find HIM, the real HIM. The only place that I can find what pleases God is in the BIBLE. Not in what others, priests, ministers, mentors, parents, friends, or society (not even Christian society) say. But ONLY from the Word of God... Of course I am not saying that people can't help guide you. But, we cannot solely rely on their opinions and rest in peace. We have to DIG in the Bible, and let God speak to us directly.

23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

John 4:23-24

Jesus' response to the Samaritan woman still applies to my life as well as the once dreaded chapters in Ezekiel. In order for me to truly worship God is by worshiping in truth. And where do we find truth? In others? In society? In opinions? NO. In the Bible. It is the only place to find him... but we must obey. Remember, all that he asks of us is for our own good.

XOXO,

Mariana