Prayer: Father, may I see myself through Your eyes and heart. I can have all kinds of illusions, but how You see me is all that matters. Amen.
Reading: Ezekiel 32 Key: vs. 2 ““Son of man, lift up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You compare yourself to a young lion of the nations, but you are a crocodile in the waters. You thrash about in your rivers and muddy the water with your feet and foul their streams.’” TLV
Attention: Children have amazing imaginations and play make believe and pretend they are all kinds of superheroes which are really transhumanist figures. Superman was my childhood hero, “More powerful than a locomotive…”
Power names are bequeathed upon sports heroes like Shaq Diesel, or upon an NFL defensive line, the Steel Curtain, or Orange Crush. We like to project an image of power and solidarity.
Today, Ezekiel is task with declaring a lament of grief or sorrow upon Pharaoh, who compares himself to “a young lion of the nations.” Adonai is correcting Pharoah’s inaccurate self-assessment, calling him a “crocodile.” One animal has a royal image, the other lurks in the Nile, living in their own waste.
Pharoah does not compare to Adonai who is called the Lion of Judah. He is the King of Kings and is sending a message to Pharoah.
Adonai tells everyone who they are in scripture. He created us, He should know. Here is how God recorded His first assessment of man’s nature to Moses, “Then Adonai saw that the wickedness of humankind was great on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil all the time (Genesis 6:5).” If you do not like that assessment, the prophet Isaiah recorded what God told him, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a filthy garment, and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away, like the wind (Isaiah 64:5).”
In his letter to the Roman followers of Yeshua, Paul writes, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Sin is the fruit of fallen man. We can say we are good people until we individually come to terms with who we are in relation to a sinless, righteous, holy God, we can never enter relationship with Him.
Action: I choose to see my human condition as Adonai sees it.
Yield: I choose to submit to the supremacy of Adonai and see myself through His eyes.
Engage: I choose to engage with Holy Spirit is being conformed to His image.
Relationship: I choose to live in relationship with Adonai.
Prayer: Father, I ask that You save us from ourselves and our own self-destructive behaviors. Help us to accept Your assessment of our souls. Amen.
Memory Verse: Genesis 6:5 “Then Adonai saw that the wickedness of humankind was great on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil all the time.” TLV
Music Video: Jason Silver—Create In Me a Clean Heart, O God https://youtu.be/yjsG6IHEUUE?si=ywS9jUWjXzKEkCgP
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”