The Park Forum

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 9 Listen: (2:05)
Read: Romans 12 Listen: (2:58)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 9.3-4

3 Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side 4 and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

Reflection: Mark of the Lord

By Erin Newton

Speculating about the end of the world has become something of a common practice for many Christians. There is the impulse to look at the news about wars and catastrophic weather and want to find a way to comfort ourselves by mapping out the future. It’s not so easily done and I’m afraid we’ll always have more questions than answers. Ezekiel shows us, however, that judgment comes for those aligned with evil.

The previous chapters detailed the level of idolatry in Ezekiel’s day. The list of gods and images worshiped spans the full spectrum of ancient Near Eastern religions. It was not that the people just stumbled; it was that they welcomed every possible way of loving anything but God.

And because of this, God is angry and responds with judgment. This chapter is difficult and painful to read. It speaks of the thorough judgment of God upon all people—no gender or age discriminated against. While we can mentally understand, even if it is emotionally difficult to accept, that God’s judgment on false worship is justified, it is never given without a sense of hope and mercy.

Placing a mark on one’s forehead is a familiar action, but usually with Revelation in mind. In Ezekiel 9, the mark was only given to those who were repentant. It was a mark that not only identified the people as righteous but also belonging to God.

As with a runaway cow, if it weren’t for tagging or branding, no one would know where it needed to be returned. The mark on that beast reveals where it belongs.

Those who are faithful (Ezek 9.4) and those who are wicked (Rev 13.16-17) exhibit the mark of the one who lays claim to their heart. One mark means life and the other mark means death—everyone is marked in one way or another.

Our tendency to throw around the term “mark of the beast” as an identifier of any modern concept (barcodes, government issued identification numbers, cell phone technology . . . you name it), shows that we don’t read the Scriptures carefully.

In many ways we want to control the future by hacking some timeline but we always come up with questions rather than certainties. Let us focus not on what the mark is, but whose mark we have. Are we showing the world faces marked for God or for false gods?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Cry of the Church

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more about Wary but not Paranoid
Most of those pointing fingers at Antichrists are pointing at people they already hate or dislike. More than anything else, this indicates they are probably wrong.

Wary but not Paranoid

Read more about Breaking the Rhyme Scheme
Christians do not believe in cyclical, neverending, repetition. We know that an end is coming and a new beginning. However, history does rhyme.

Breaking the Rhyme Scheme

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 8 Listen: (3:21)
Read: Romans 10 Listen: (5:23)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 8.3-11

3 He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood. 4 And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.

5 Then he said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy.

6 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”

7 Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.

9 And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” 10 So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. 11 In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

Reflection: Grabbed By The Hair

By John Tillman

Commentaries describe God “transporting” Ezekiel in a vision to Jerusalem. Most fail to mention Ezekiel is grabbed by his hair.

I’ve never been grabbed by the hair except in a fight. But I’ve been forced to look at things I had done, broken, or allowed to happen. “Look what you did!”

God took Ezekiel by the hair to show him Jerusalm’s wickedness. He started with an idol openly standing in the temple. “But it gets worse,” he says. He has Ezekiel dig into the wall. Like Alice going through the looking glass, Ezekiel goes through the wall, witnessing the secret sins of Judah’s leaders. “Do you see this?,” God asked. “Is this trivial?”

We may ignore, downplay, defend, or minimize our sins or those of our communities, churches, or leaders. God won’t.

Within a few months in 2024, nine pastors from large churches in the DFW metroplex area left ministry due to various secret sins. Many find this upsetting or embarrassing. It may feel like being grabbed by the hair and forced to see unpleasant things. But it is necessary. Embarrassment leading to purification is a blessing. Complacency that leads to destruction is a curse.

These men needed to be (and must remain) removed from ministry. Just because their sins were secret didn’t mean they were not hurting the church before they were discovered. We should pray not only that our pastors do not sin in disqualifying ways, but also pray that if they are currently doing so, the truth would be exposed.

But if we only point at leaders and do not examine ourselves, we are foolish. We may be similarly blinded to our own sins.

We tend to look away from things we have done wrong or neglected. This includes small and large things, spiritual issues, and physical issues. They either become normal to us, like the idol in public, or invisible to us, like the sins hidden in the wall.

Are there sins that have become normal or trivial to you?
Are there sins that have become invisible to you, hidden behind a wall or in your heart?
If Ezekiel dug through the wall in your home or church like in the temple, what sins would he see?

Holy Spirit, arrest our attention!
Grab us by the hair if needed.
Dig into our walls if needed.
Bring sin to light, both in us and in our leaders.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

I put my trust in your mercy; my heart is joyful because of your saving help. — Psalm 13.5

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read The Bible With Us
It’s never too late to join our Bible reading plan. Immerse in the Bible with us at a sustainable, two-year pace.

https://mailchi.mp/theparkforum/m-f-daily-email-devotional

Read more about Who Tells Your Story?
Jonah is the only account in scripture in which the “title character” could be considered the villain.

Who Tells Your Story?

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 4 Listen: (2:56)
Read: Romans 7 Listen: (4:09)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 5 Listen: (3:28) Read: Romans 8 Listen: (6:22)
Read: Ezekiel 6 Listen: (2:49) Read: Romans 9 Listen: (5:15)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 4.1-4

1 “Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. 3 Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel.

4 “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself.

Reflection: Model of an Exile

By John Tillman

Ezekiel didn’t preach attempting to prevent the judgment of God—he already lived under it. Ezekiel is an exile. We have this in common with him.

Ezekiel served those who had already suffered exile. They had experienced sieges and been defeated in battle. They had been stripped of their property, family members, and clothing and marched ignominiously into slavery and servitude in Babylon.

In his acting out of the final siege of Jerusalem, however, Ezekiel introduces something other than the starvation, the deprivation of freedom, or the destruction these people had already experienced. He demonstrated the role of someone who would bear the sins of the city.

The word translated “bear” can mean to lift or carry away. The people Ezekiel was serving had already been “carried away” into captivity. But part of Ezekiel’s message was that their sin would one day be carried away by another. The Messiah to come would bear their burdens, sorrows, and sins.

Ezekiel did not just build a model of a battle, he gave us a model of how to minister to our fellow exiles and to the land in which we are foreigners. He cares for the exiles, cautioning them to not forget their God in this new land. He confronts them, refusing to avoid the hard truth that their sins brought destruction to the city, the country, and the people they loved. He also comforts them, teaching that there will be a time of restoration, healing, and peace.

As we worship God in this world, we may feel under siege. This should remind us that we are in a state of exile. No matter how comfortable we allow ourselves to become in our countries, our cities, or our cultures, we are from another place and represent another kingdom.

We must not avoid the difficult truths of our sins and the consequences that affect us in this falling empire of Babylon in which we live. We also must speak of the healing and comfort available in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who bears our sins.

May we confront and be humbled by difficult truths about our sins.

May we be comforted by Christ who bears our sins.

May we construct for others actions that model what Christ does for us, his beloved exiles.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Let your loving-kindness be my comfort, as you have promised to your servant.

Let your compassion come to me, that I may live, for your law is my delight. — Psalm 119.76-77

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more about It’s Not Over When It’s Over
Jerusalem didn’t fall in a day. It was a long, slow-motion train wreck of a million rebellious choices by kings, priests, false prophets, wealthy rulers, and ordinary people

It’s Not Over When It’s Over

Read more about Beyond Second Chances
Haggai spoke to people returning from exile. They are at home, yet homeless, returning to a flattened, burned, destroyed city.

Beyond Second Chances

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 3 Listen: (4:41)

Read: Romans 6 Listen: (3:28)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 3:3, 14

3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

14 The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me.

Reflection: Bitter & Sweet Word of God

By Erin Newton

The word of God is sweet. Sometimes, in certain circumstances, it can cause a bitter aftertaste. But how?

In chapter 3, Ezekiel is called to ingest (quite literally) the word of God. “Eat this scroll.” Whether he sat there chewing bits of parchment or leather scroll, or if the request is part of the grand imagery employed throughout the prophet’s book—it is not clear nor entirely consequential. The important issue is that Ezekiel is putting the word of God within himself. It becomes part of him. In return, the words of God would flow naturally from Ezekiel’s mouth. It is a positive aspect to what we hear in Matthew 12.34, “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

The sweet words, however, leave him feeling bitter.

Ezekiel did not hesitate to “eat” the words of God. It was sweet. It was delightful. The promises and word of God are good and should be enjoyed with the same sweetness of honey. But Ezekiel’s pleasant words were to be spent on a people who would hear the words and reject it. Israel had turned against God to the point that his goodness, his sweet word, was spat out. Nevertheless, Ezekiel was called to speak.

A bitter and sour stomach churns at the grim reality of Ezekiel’s audience. Rejection turns sweetness to bitterness. God tells the prophet to enjoy the word, embody the word, but accept the reality that rejection was inevitable. We hear the same call from Jesus in Luke 6:22, “Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”

The word of God was offered to Ezekiel’s peers, but they tasted nothing. The word was rejected as if it was not good. And that reality was distressing, angering, and bitter to Ezekiel’s soul.

Not much has changed in two millennia. We read the Bible, sing hymns, and hear of how God has worked in the lives of others. It raises our spirits and instills joy in our hearts. It is sweetness to our soul! But then we look outward and see a world that wants nothing of it.

How do we deal with that harsh reality? The prophet’s reaction is helpful. Like Ezekiel we sit in grief, acknowledging the reality. But we never stop speaking the sweet words of truth.  

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Behold, God is my helper; it is the Lord who sustains my life. — Psalm 54.4

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more about Supporting Our Work
Our work needs your support. Please consider donating to support ad-free content that brings biblical devotionals to inboxes across the world.

Supporting our Work

Read more about Sticks and Stones and Scorpions
Are we speaking God’s words? We must eat God’s words to speak them…A diet of other “words” may be the reason our words harm.

https://theparkforum.org/843-acres/sticks-and-stones-and-scorpions