ambition

1 Kings 13, Ezekiel 43

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Rumble | YouTube | SermonAudio | Calvary Bible Church

Read 1 Kings 13 and Ezekiel 43.

This devotional is about Ezekiel 43.

The exile of Judah to Babylon happened in three stages. Ezekiel and others were sent to Babylon in one of the earlier stages of exile and Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry happened there in Babylon (Ez 1:1).

Back in chapter 33:21-22, word came to Ezekiel and the other Jewish exiles in Babylon that Jerusalem had fallen to Nebuchadnezzar. This was the final stage of Judah’s exile, the one where Nebuchadnezzar killed many people and burned the city of Jerusalem, including the Lord’s temple.

From Ezekiel 34 onward, Ezekiel’s message to Judah turned to a hopeful one. He still prophesied pain and loss for God’s enemies (like in Ez 35, for instance) but for God’s people his message was God’s promise of restoration.

Whenever someone has a catastrophic loss–a business or personal bankruptcy, the death of a spouse or one that leaves in divorce–it can seem like things will never be good again. Imagine if the catastrophe happened to your nation–a nation of God’s chosen people. Imagine that the capitol city, the palace, and the temple that one of your greatest kings in history built was completely destroyed. Imagine that everyone you knew was either killed or carried off as a prisoner by the nation that invaded you. I think there would be a strong tendency for any of us to think, “That’s it; it’s over. Israel will never exist again.” These later chapters in Ezekiel’s prophecy were promises from God that the nation would not be over. In fact, God’s people would have a brighter future than ever someday. Judah and Israel would be reunited as one nation again (37:15-23) and God himself would be their king (37:24-28).

Starting in chapter 40, Ezekiel had a vision of a restored temple of the Lord. The past few chapters we’ve read in Ezekiel have described that new temple in great detail. So much detail, in fact, that Ezekiel was measuring it out by hand so that there would be a specific record of what God was promising to do.

There is more description to come of this temple in the chapters that remain of Ezekiel but in today’s chapter, Ezekiel 43, God explained why he described this temple to Ezekiel in such detail. Verse 10 says, “Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider its perfection, and 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 regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.” To summarize those verses, God is telling Ezekiel to be specific about the temple so that God’s people would “be ashamed of their sins.” How exactly would a vision of a temple for the Lord with precise measurements make the people ashamed of their sins? The answer lies in the idea behind all of this: God’s people may have given up on him but he had not given up on them. God was able to restore them to the land, be their perfect king, and dwell among them in a perfect temple. What they needed to do was repent of their sins and hope in him for the fulfillment of these promises.

Truthfully, our ambitions for God are extremely limited but God wants to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Eph 3:20). Reading about God’s promises like this in his word should give us great hope and align us with his program and will again. God has promised incredible things for his people; do we believe that he will do them?

If we did believe that God will accomplish his promises, what would we do (or try) that we won’t do or try today?

1 Samuel 24, Ezekiel 3

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Rumble | YouTube | SermonAudio | Calvary Bible Church

Read 1 Samuel 24, Ezekiel 3.

This devotional is about 1 Samuel 24.

Before David was anointed to be king of Israel (1 Sam 16), Saul was told that his sin would keep the kingdom from passing through his family. 1 Samuel 15:28 says, “Samuel said to him, ‘The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors–to one better than you.’” So it was Saul’s disobedience that opened the door for David to be king; it was not true that David was an ambitious soldier who decided to dethrone Saul.

But once God chose David to be king, Saul’s ability to lead as king began to unravel. Instead of leading as well as he could for the rest of his life, he was out there in the Desert of En Gedi looking for David (vv. 1-2).

After looking for David for a time, Saul started looking for somewhere to use the bathroom (v. 3: “to relieve himself”). He found a cave that would work well but–wouldn’t your know it–it was the very cave where David and his men were hiding (v. 3). What are the odds?

Zero; that’s what the odds were. This was a divine appointment, a work of God’s providence. David’s men thought so, too: “The men said, ‘This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, “I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.”’” God is sovereign and works his will using non-miraculous situations that we call “providence.” This sure looked like a prime opportunity that God in his providence delivered up for David. While Saul was squatting, David could have crept up behind him and cut his throat. Saul would never know what happened to him. He would die and David would get what God promised him.

This whole chapter looks like God set things up for David to take the kingdom. In addition to all of this, Saul was actively hunting David. If the situations were reversed, Saul would have immediately killed David, no questions asked. Since that is true, if he were to kill Saul in this incident, a valid argument could be made that David’s actions were done in self-defense. And, honestly, I don’t think it would have been a sin for David to kill Saul at this moment given everything we know about these two men.

So why did David spare Saul’s life? Why did his conscience bother him for merely cutting off a piece of Saul’s robe? The answer is given in verse 6, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” Unless and until God removed Saul from the throne of Israel, David did not want to be king.

Saul knew that it was God’s will for David to be the next king of Israel (v.20). After all, he was there when Samuel told him that his kingdom would not endure in 1 Sam 15:28. He also heard Samuel say that the kingdom would go to someone, “…better than you” (1 Sam 15:28). This incident proves that David is morally and spiritually a better man that Saul (v. 17a) because David, in this passage, loved his enemy. As he told David in verse 19, “When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today.” Long before Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, David did it.

Do you love your enemies? Are you merciful to others who sin against you or are you vindictive toward them? We know how the story concluded: Saul died in battle and David did, in fact, become king. His patience to wait for what God had promised to come to him paid off. If we trust God, we can do the same knowing that He will provide for us in His timing and according to his ways.