245 - "Raise Us Up" Ezekiel 17-20

                                                            

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruitand become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the forest will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. Ezekiel 17: 22-24

This tribe of David will not be lost.  Nebuchadnezzar appointed one of David's relatives to sit on the throne.  No success here.  

The Lord here promises that He will take one and plant it and it will prosper.  

I Myself.

There you will remember your conduct and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil you have done. You will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for My Name’s Sake and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt practices, you people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

Ezekiel 20:24

Oh! To know that my God deals with me not according to my evil ways but calls me by name.  I am His Name's Sake. 

 In the seventh year, the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, some of the leaders of Israel came to ask for guidance from God. The Master said:  Have you come to ask me questions? As sure as I am the living God, I'll not put up with questions from you.  God did say:  Get rid of all the vile things that you've become addicted to.  Don't make yourselves filthy with the Egyptian no-god idols.  I alone am God, your God.  But they held on to the no-gods of Egypt as if for dear life and said: We're going to worship gods we can make and control." 

No Lists!  "See My Glory, this time, not in Holy Wrath but in Merciful Love, Severe Mercy, Radical Dependence.

PHOTO: Our Capitol building. Raise us up.