Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 39.9-10
9 Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up—the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. 10 They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel. 

Reflection: Repurposed Weapons
By John Tillman

Ezekiel describes a future war against God’s people that is ended through supernatural means and has an unlikely outcome.

John, in Revelation (Revelation 20.7-11), makes direct reference to this earlier prophecy from Ezekiel, revealing that it is Satan that deceives Gog and Magog, leading them in warfare to their destruction. (Revelation 20.9)

This apocalyptic prophecy is full of poetic symbolism without a simple, decipherable, literal interpretation. An interesting detail is that the weapons left behind by the fallen enemy army will be used as fuel by God’s people for seven years. 

We don’t often cook over fires anymore and modern weapons would not leave much wood behind but that does not mean this vision is unfulfilled. This image is part of a repeated theme in prophecy that humanity’s tools of warfare and destruction will be remade into implements of peace and cultivation. 

What is intended for evil will be used for good. Wooden weaponry will be fuel for cooking fires. Swords will be beaten into plows. God takes weapons that are intended to end life and turns them into tools that bring life. Look at what he did with the cross. 

The Romans and religious leaders thought the cross would end Jesus’ life. The Roman Empire thought that if crucifying Jesus wasn’t enough, they’d crucify thousands of his followers. But the cross couldn’t end the life of the church any more than it could end the life of Jesus. 

The wooden weapon of the cross became a symbol that fuels hope. Every empire that has opposed it has fallen. Hundreds of Empires since have thought that violence by blade, fire, or bullet could stop the church and the gospel. Yet, every empire that opposes it will fall.  The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God. (Revelation 11.15)

Our world, and Satan who rules it, wants us, like Gog and Magog, to be their weapons. “Used in their wars. Used for their gain.” (Rich Mullins, “Higher Education and the Book of Love”) Tragically, we are often deceived and march to war with them, but in Christ we, who have been weaponized, can be remade, recycled, and repurposed. 

May we no longer be swords and shields but basins and towels. (John 13.5) 
No longer murderers but nourishers.
No longer aggressors but comforters.
No longer destroyers but cultivators.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm
Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you: O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not worship a foreign god.
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said, “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” — Psalm 81.8-10

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 39  (Listen – 4:51)
Psalm 90 (Listen – 2:03)

Read more about God of all Nations
To serious students of scripture, it seems ludicrous that we must repeat that God is not American, not White, and not partial to any race. But repeat it, we must.

Read more about Of Pride and The Sword
Despite how Egypt, or any nation, postures itself, those who live by the sword will fall by it. Those who profit by violence will face justice.

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 34.2-6
Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. 

Reflection: Tendencies of Unfaithful Shepherds
By John Tillman

God comforted Ezekiel, who sang the song of God’s love faithfully and beautifully to people who refused to listen and obey. Then God confronted the prophets and priests who were unfaithful. 

To modern ears, Ezekiel’s description sounds like flamboyant, prosperity gospel hucksters with pockets and clothing as gilded as their voices. This extreme visual, however, can cause us to miss deeper problems. God is less concerned with the wealth of the shepherd than with the health of the flock. 

In reality, most pastors live fiscally and morally responsible lives. Yet, a pastor can abuse power without ever accumulating a fleet of private jets. A pastor can abuse trust without ever being exposed in a sex scandal. Unfaithful shepherds place their own security and power before the health of the flock. Caring for others as a shepherd almost always goes against our self-preservation instincts.

In a beautiful pre-visualization of Jesus’ earthly ministry, God tells Ezekiel that he, himself, will come to the scattered sheep. He himself will search for them, gather them, heal them, and care for them.

Wise shepherds could draw from this passage a self-assessment tool: 

• Are the weak strengthened or are the “sleek and strong” subjecting the weak? 
• Are the sick healed or do the healthy shame the sick? 
• Are the hurts of the wounded bound up or are the angry ignored so they will limp away alone? 
• Are people treated tenderly or is failure or dissent crushed with authority and malice? 
• Are the strays and the lost brought home or do those who called this home stray? 

Jesus had compassion on the masses because they were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9.35-38) Those who should have been binding up the weak, were instead “binding up heavy burdens” and not lifting a finger to help. (Matthew 23.1-12)

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day and Ezekiel’s fellow prophets became unfaithful shepherds for similar reasons. Power and recognition were more attractive to them than service and selflessness. Control and authority were grasped by them rather than mercy and humility. Law and order were enforced by them rather than doing justice and righteousness. Unfaithful shepherds have these tendencies in common.

May we, and our shepherds be more like Jesus. May we seek and support earthly shepherds like him, who with mercy, humility, justice, and righteousness, gather, feed, guide, protect, and heal.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
He spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being upright and despised everyone else, “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, ‘I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ This man, I tell you, went home again justified; the other did not. For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, but anyone who humbles himself will be raised up.” — Luke 18.9-14

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 34  (Listen – 5:11) 
Psalm 83-84 (Listen – 3:20)

Read more about The Purpose of Power
The idea that the rich can’t be bought is a fallacy. In some cases, saying the rich can’t be bought is like saying an alcoholic won’t want another drink.

Read more about The Sin Which Fells Nations
From Isaiah we can learn that what looks like a great and powerful nation may actually be a spiritual wasteland of pride and greed.

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 33.30-32
30 “As for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.’ 31 My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. 32 Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. 

Reflection: The Limits of Ministry
By John Tillman

Ezekiel ministered during a drastic change in Jewish worship. Since the exodus, Jews had never been without the ministry of the priests at the tabernacle or the temple. With the sacrificial system dismantled, the gathering of God’s people to hear the teaching of priests and prophets like Ezekiel was all that was left of their worship practices.

Ezekiel was faithful but there are limits to what a minister of God can accomplish. Pastors can’t control whether people listen or have faith or obey.

There is a sense sometimes among ministers that failures of culture, failures of the body of Christ, and failures of communities are somehow all on them.

“If I just preached the gospel better…” 
“If I just sang about God’s grace more beautifully…” 
“If I just refuted arguments more compellingly…”

There is also, at times, dissatisfaction among congregants about the content and presentation during times of worship.

“If only they would preach less (or more) about politics…”
“If only they would sing this type of music…”
“If only they would change this element…”

God holds prophets and preachers accountable for telling the truth but not for the outcome. Multiple times in scripture prophets were told ahead of time to speak the truth even though people would not listen. God requires watchmen on the wall to faithfully call out warning but holds people responsible for their response. Only if watchmen fail to tell the truth do they have blood on their hands.

Ministry leaders bear great responsibility and many fail in varying degrees as did Israel’s priests and prophets, (we will discuss this tomorrow) but hard-hearted listeners are still blameworthy. Even listening to Ezekiel, one of the greatest prophets of his day or any day, these exiled Jewish leaders remained greedy for gain rather than being repentant.

Ministry leaders are a force for good in the world when they raise their voices to call for change. But no matter how beautiful their voices are, if the body of Christ does not have ears to hear and hearts to respond, judgment will be the result.

We cannot allow pastors and worship leaders to become merely singers of love songs with beautiful voices and instrumentalists with beautiful artistry. We must have more than words of love in our mouths. We must have beautiful feet that carry the gospel. We must take actions that put God’s word into practice.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
The Lord is near to those who call upon him, to all who call upon him faithfully. — Psalm 145.19

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 33  (Listen – 6:03) 
Psalm 81-82 (Listen – 2:36)

Read more about Denying our Exile
Much of Ezekiel’s ministry was attempting to convince the already exiled, that there was not going to be a miraculous return to Israel’s glory days.

Read more about Treasuring Our Temples
The worship they thought God prized had become annoying noise, because there was no justice established when they stopped singing about justice.