Friday, March 9, 2018

PHARAOH

Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 30-31

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

 

Once standing 60 feet high, this colossal statue of Ramses II, carved from limestone, now lays on the ground. It looks like he is sleeping, perhaps dreaming. This statue once adorned the great temple of Ptah in Memphis, Egypt. Ramses the Great ruled for more than 60 years, roughly 1279 to 1213 BC (about 200 years after the exodus of the Israelites). This image may have already been toppled by the time of today’s reading, some 700 years after the reign of Rameses II. The empires of Babylon and Persia made Memphis the capital city of the province (satrap) of Egypt. The prophecies of the Bible predicted this.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

 

Key Verses: Ezekiel 30:19

Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt,

Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

 

Ezekiel 30 mentions Egypt a dozen times with statements like our key verse. For example, 30:13 tells us of the destruction of the idols and images of Noph (ancient Memphis). Like the king of Tyre in yesterday’s reading, the Pharaohs and the Emperors claimed to be gods to be worshipped. Lucifer, the archangel who was exiled from Heaven because he desired to be worshipped instead of the true God, now seeks that worship on earth by convincing earthly rulers that they are gods to be worshipped. Satan still seeks to divert worship away from the Great Creator, the One and Only God of the cosmos.

Ezekiel 31 seems to reflect the hurt God experiences because of rejection by His creation. Ezekiel, speaking for God, refers to “the garden of God” three times, and the “trees of Eden” twice. God placed our first parents in a beautiful garden. There were trees there in Eden. The first three chapters of the Bible describe this garden God had lovingly prepared for His human family. We’ve messed up so horribly. Today we might consider repenting, not only for our own sins, but for the sin of rebellion against God throughout the years of recorded history. Again and again, because we have sided with Satan knowingly or unknowingly against God, we have been the cause of our own destruction.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I’m sorry for my sins against You and for the sins of our human family for whom You have such great, joyous and peaceful plans to bless with a happy future. I pray that I will give myself to You in such a way that I will be, for all those whose paths cross mine, a source of hope for a better world, because of Your gift of restoration which You have given me in Your Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ, in Whose Name I pray. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

My parents spent many years doing God’s work in Egypt. I’ve stood beside the great fallen image of Rameses in ancient Noph (Memphis) and wondered at the giant statue carved from one piece of granite. What gigantic self images must have been in the minds of the Pharaohs and their people who worshipped them as gods. One story my dad told in his autobiography, which he intended only for his family but which I published after his death, was of my mother and an Egyptian police officer. Mother, who died when I was 12, was praying at the altar in a church building when the officer carrying a rifle came to the front to investigate what was happening. Dad said that he heard this policeman tell this story several times. He said, as mother stood to her feet, a tear dropped from her eyes onto the man’s arm. He dropped the rifle, fell to his knees and was converted to Jesus Christ. I think that if I were to weep more over the spiritual condition of humanity, one of my tear drops could touch someone, and by the working of God’s Spirit, more people would come to know Jesus. Individuals, families, and nations could be changed by believers in Jesus all over the world. I pray that I will touch someone’s life for Jesus today.

Yours for loving God and loving people,

David

10 thoughts on “Friday, March 9, 2018

  1. Oh, when we would be still, and feel His Presence, and hold one another in the deepest of prayer, peace would fill our hearts so ever abundantly. Such an endearing message of love, this morning, in the story of David’s mother. What a great woman of prayer who yielded such fruit in her son, and such a blessing to all of us. Blessings fellow saints in the Lord.

    Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Ps 119:105 KJV

    I Will Sing
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W1EdvUfaRY

  2. Your father’s words are so true Ron. Thank you for keeping this blog going.
    God bless you and all those who will forward these words of wisdom on to others, lost or newly found.

  3. Yes, wonderful story of David’s Mom in Egypt. Lord use us to that degree. Thanks for scripture and song Beverlee.

  4. How blessed your family is Ron to have such a heritage, through Dad and Mom, as well as your grandparents!! Such anointing of the Lord on David’s Mom, for immediate results for God’s Glory!!
    Thank you for faithfully present the word’s of your Dad to us daily in the form of this blog!!

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