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I missed posting yesterday because I didn’t remember until the evening and then I was so tired I crashed in bed. I did complete the reading, though.

Today I read Daniel 9 through the end of Hosea. This is the first time I’ve read through Hosea since reading Redeeming Love. That book really touched me so I was excited to read through Hosea, the story that inspired Redeeming Love.

It amazes me that God told Hosea to marry a prostitute who was still living in sin. I understand the symbolism. God wanted Israel to understand His love for them and illustrated it through Hosea and his wife. But Hosea’s wife left him and went back to prostitution. God told Hosea to retrieve his wife from prostitution. Hosea paid for her to bring her back into his home (Hosea 3:2). He paid for his own wife to escape prostitution. That’s how important it was to him.

I love the imagery in this verse:

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you
Hosea 10:12.

I want to sow righteousness and reap mercy. It is time to seek the Lord until He comes and rains righteousness upon His people!

Today I completed Ezekiel. The schedule only had me reading through chapter 47, but I decided to read an extra chapter so I could finish the book. I found several texts that I want to study more in depth. Instead of posting them here, I want to discuss them with hubby to see if he can explain them.

I did find one text that reinforces the idea that a heart change comes before behavior modification.

For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them
Ezekiel 36:24-27.

In these verses, God says that He will give us a new heart and His spirit. When that happens, we will walk in God’s statutes, keep His judgments, and do them. That is powerful. It’s not my determination that will cause me to keep God’s commandments. Instead, I need to ask Him for a new heart, for His spirit in me. As a result of that new heart and His spirit, I will want and be able to follow God’s laws out of love to Him and others around me.

Today’s reading covered Ezekiel 24 through 35. The only thought I have is about a text that addresses the character of God.

Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
Ezekiel 33:10-11

So many people think that God is vindictive, that He takes delight in punishing people for their sins. But this text says that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. In fact, God pleads with people to abandon their wicked plans and actions so that they can live. God wants all people to live, not die because of their bad choices. The Bible is very clear in that.

Two thirds complete! Today’s reading covered Ezekiel 12 through 23. Ezekiel 18 had some interesting thoughts about sin. The Jews believed that the sins of the father affected the children. Christ addressed this during His time on Earth, but I didn’t realize it was also discussed in the Old Testament.

God says about a faithful man and his son:

If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any one of these things,

Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him
Ezekiel 18:10-13.

So, if a father is faithful and has a son who sins, that son will be held accountable for his own sins. BUT –

Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,

That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live
Ezekiel 18:14-17.

So if the father sins and the son learns from those sins and decides not to repeat them, he lives. I find this very comforting, that a person will not be held responsible for the sins of their parents. On the other hand, a person can also not ride on the coattails of their parents and expect to get into heaven. It is all decided on an individual basis.

I almost forgot about posting this evening. I really should write my thoughts immediately after reading instead of waiting until hours later.

This morning I read Lamentations and Ezekiel 1 through 12. I don’t want to take things out of context, but I really hope this promise can be applied to me personally as well as having applied to Israel in the past.

And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God
Ezekiel 11:19-20.

I’ve been praying lately that God will give me a new heart. This passage shows that the order of our spiritual walk is: 1 – A new heart. 2 – Keeping God’s commandments. We don’t keep God’s commandments in order to gain a new heart. Instead, we can pray that God will give us a new heart so that we can keep His commandments. I think that order is very important because otherwise humans tend to focus on works and what we can do to earn our way into heaven. But we have it backwards. We can ask God for a new heart and that will enable us to keep His commands. It’s much easier and keeps us from taking pride in our own accomplishments. All I have to do is ask.

I finished reading Jeremiah. It’s not a very uplifting book, in spite of a few texts that talk about God’s love.

The last few chapters talked about the punishments that certain cities were going to receive. And that’s really all I have to say about the end of Jeremiah. On to Lamentations!

I finally made up one of my missed days! Today I read Jeremiah 27 through 47.

The reading was mostly Jeremiah telling people that they had disobeyed God and so He was allowing them to be taken captive. In every one of Jeremiah’s warnings was the promise that if the people turned back to God, He would save them.

I believe that the story of Israel and all of history can be summed up as follows:

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee
Jeremiah 31:3.

Reading the Bible so quickly has shown me that God really is patient. Over and over and over and over Israel rejects God. And God keeps calling them back. Sometimes the people have to pay the consequences for their sins, but God never fails to love them.

Today’s reading schedule is Jeremiah 11 through 23 but I read through chapter 26. I’m hoping to read a few extra chapters for a few days and make up one of my missed days. I really want to finish the reading in 90 days or less and I don’t want to read all of Revelation on day 90!

I marked another prophecy about Christ.

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely:
and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
Jeremiah 23:5-6.

I also found this promise:

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD,
and whose hope the LORD is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit
Jeremiah 17:7-8.

This promise sounds glorious to me, especially because I live in a desert. The image of a tree planted by waters, green leaves, ever yielding fruit… It just sounds so peaceful and I would love to be sitting under that tree right now.