Devotional:
Do You Want Fries with Your Miracle?
In my scripture study today, I am looking at Ezekiel 36:27 where God says “And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” The word cause comes from ποιήσω which means “do” or “make”. The original Hebrew has more specifically the sense of “manufacture”. In today’s English the word Cause means to force something to happen. The meaning and sense of the Hebrew is a creative process over time of manufacturing. This changes the meaning and sense from “I will force you obey” to “I will process you into believing in a creative manner over time.
Rendered in this fashion, the passage takes more of a new testament attitude instead of the instant but distant miracles of Judaism before the incarnation. To my thinking, that gives this interpretation more credence because it more closely matches the teachings of Christ. To me: this confirms that God works more often through incidents in our lives than almost any other way. Over time, It is a process.
When we get hungry, we can just hop in the car and run over to McArches and get a burger and fries. It’s not real food though. It is instant food. There was no effort in the acquisition of the food or its preparation. This leads to a contempt of those that do earn it. This contempt is often heralded by demeaning forms of disrespect. Paul tells us that we should be eating meat instead of drinking milk like babies. He is telling us to learn the word. As you learn, you will change and the disrespect changes to love. It is a process.
In application of this: I have to know and understand that when I am in over my head, my only option is to worship. I have awaken at odd hours of the night singing the old nursery rhyme “Jesus Loves Me”. When I am under attack, I begin to feel overwhelmed. The moment I feel this, I need to recognize what is happening. By worshiping right then at that moment, I invite the presence of the Lord to come and calm my situation. And He does. By the time I have the full chorus sung, God has calmed and cleared my mind. The more often this happens, the better I get at sidestepping the attacks with God’s guidance. God is using these things in my life to make me into the man He wants me to be. I would be silly to fight against Him. No, I don’t want to suffer either, but on occasion, it is necessary to suffer a bit to fully reveal the blessing that suffering will become. Like the man said, “It’s a process.”
Amen.