The Watchman and God's Favor

DAY 59
Lamentations 2:1-Ezekiel 12:20

The picture is an illustration of Ezekiel 2:9-10. However, there are two thoughts into today's reading that I would like to point out.

The first is found in Ezekiel 3:17-19.
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself."

It's about the responsibility we have (those that have received and heard the word of God) to our neighbors and fellow man. The illustration points to the responsibility we have of sharing the gospel to the world. If we do not share the gospel to those without Christ and warn them about the penalties of sin, then they will die and suffer the penalties. We will also be held accountable. If we share the truth and they choose not to follow, then we are not accountable.

The second point is an illustration of when God withdraws his favor from a nation. It is found in Ezekiel 5:11 "Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you with pity or spare you."

We only have to look at history to see the patterns. You can see all the nations that ruled the Middle East around Jerusalem in 90 seconds. http://mapsofwar.com/ind/imperial-history.html

History continues to repeat itself. Nations have a spiritual revelation that draws them to truth about God. Those nations enjoy spiritual and earthly blessings while they follow God, or as the gospel gets shared. After the nation becomes successful and enjoys abundance, it later becomes complacent, self-centered, and apathetic. Especially concerning the truth about God. Eventually the nation falls into an abundance of sin and no longer follows God. Either a revival or hard times draws the nation back to God, or God removes His blessings and favor.

Has American lost the favor of God? I don't know.

But I can guarantee that we will lose His favor if we continue to fail as the watchman by not speaking out in our nation about Jesus.

On November 2, 2006, John MacArthur gave a message based on Romans 1 called "Abandoned by God" at Southern Seminary. It contains numerous references to the Old Testament. It can be found toward the end of the page of chapel messages. http://www.sbts.edu/resources/Audio_Resources/Chapel_Messages/Fall_2006.aspx

Yesterday's Post: Lamentations

DAY 58
Jeremiah 48:1 - Lamentations 1:22
(Overview of Lamentation)

Lamentations is an interesting book. There are two books in the Bible that deal directly with suffering: Job and Lamentations. Job deals with personal suffering, while Lamentations deals with national suffering.

It consists of five distinct poems corresponding to the five chapters of the book. Just like a few of the Psalms, each of the five poems may be called an alphabetical poem, the first four being acrostic poems. Chapters 1, 2 and 4 each have 22 verses, the first verse beginning with aleph, the second with beth, and so on through the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In chapter 3 there are 66 verses, three to each of the letters in turn. In chapter 5 there is no planned sequence to the initial letters of the verses, but there are just 22 verses in the poem all the same, so that it too might rightly be called an alphabetical poem.

If we were to assign themes to the each poem they would be

Jerusalem is deserted and forsaken (1)
Divine judgment and call to repentance (2)
Prophetic lament and hope (3)
Zion past and present (4)
Prayer for divine mercy (5)

There will be times in our lives when we face communal suffering. It could be a family that loses a patriarch or matriarch. A church that suffers a division or disgrace. Other times it may be in a community due to national disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, or earthquakes. Or due to man-made disasters like the Murrah Building and 9/11. Sometimes its affects a whole nation like during times of war. It's those times where we have community suffering that Lamentations can be a comfort, instead of a difficult book of the Bible to get through.

We can hide into our hearts for times of national suffering the encouraging words found in Lam 3:21-26.

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.