battle of the gods
Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.
Ezekiel 33:13You know, as I was reading the Bible and contemplating it during class time along with that things I've learned in class, there's one ongoing theme that I've noticed throughout both the NT and OT. And that is : it is a book about the battle of the G/gods. Especially in the OT it's much more striking and explicit than the NT, but it still is the same (mainly because the OT is longer).
It's a book about the battle between the LORD God - Yahweh - the God of the Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and other gods - either other nations whom the kings considered themselves as gods or other gods like the golden calf and baal, etc. And from it we learn that Yahweh always wins, He always proves that He is God the One True God - Creator of the universe.
I find it extremely fascinating when I read this - what a revelation!
I remembered that one of the things that I've learned from this week's theology class is the Bible is not authoritative as we know "authority" to be. The Bible is a story of this God, the creator of the World who continually tries to woe His bride to Himself, to entice her to see Him and love Him as she should. And seeing the Bible in such light, gives me personally a tremendous sense of honour and love and encouragement. This is the God who proved Himself to be a worthy "lover" for us - the groom who loved His bride so much that He would not only showed us His power and but kept on calling after us even when we cheated on Him and rejected Him. He even gave Himself up for us! Man o man! When I think about this - I can't help but to feel overwhelmed by this God.
But we are weak, we are just feeble and mere humans aren't we? Let's look at the verse above from Ezekiel 33:13- if you have the time (please make up a time if you don't) read this whole chapter - or even book! it's a wonderful book.
Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.
Can you see what He is saying here?
Let me use the "lovers" analogy here (since the OT often uses our relationship w/ God as a relationship between lovers - bride and groom - see Ezek 16 for the best love story ever).
Basically God as the lover said - if the righteous bride would love Me and trust Me for their salvation - she would surely live. But if she rejects me and decided to trust in herself and do whatever she likes with her body and goes after other man besides Me - she will die.
Can you see the battle here? there are 2 G/gods Yahweh and the god of self (righteous deeds) - one offers life and the other death. And the choice is left with the bride - who is she going to run after. Which "groom" offers the highest offer?
What do you think?
When you make your choices today - can you see 2 choices? the choice that is pleasing to God or self? If you can't maybe it's been a long time since you last think about your life seriously and discern where the path that you take now - will lead you to.
Can I encourage you to start to be more discerning? Read your Bible for instructions and pray for guidance from God.
Prayer points:
1. Lord - sorry that we've rejected you - sorry that we've cheated you and run after other gods. We pray that You would not stop trying to woe us. Help us to see that You are the Only one who can give us life. Help us to be faithful to You. We love You because You first loved us. We cannot do this by ourselves LORD so please be with us all the days of our lives
2. Father in heaven, please help us to be discerning - to make the right decision and choices which are pleasing to You - don't let us walk in our sinfulness and blindness lest we fall