Gathering the Chicks

“Raising children is like being pecked to death by chickens.”  A friend of mine shared this with a group of moms one day and we all doubled over with laughter.  Of course, most of us have grown children now.  (I’m sure young moms may still be in the groaning stage.)  But of all the moms I know, both young and old, each one would knowingly go through it all again.  We love our children and not a joy in life compares to raising them.

All this came to mind as I studied Ezekiel 28:25-26.  God has just destroyed the nation of Tyre and its king because it had scorned the nation of Israel.  As the judgment of Tyre and Sidon comes to a close, God directs His sights on Israel, “Thus says the Lord GOD, “When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and will manifest My holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they will live in their land which I gave to My servant Jacob.  They will live in it securely; they will build houses, plant vineyards and live securely when I execute judgments upon all who scorn them round about them.  Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.”  Now, Israel was not really the innocent party here!  They had turned from God, but look at how much He loves them: He gathers them, manifests His holiness and secures them in their homes once again.

After reading that, I immediately thought of Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and your were unwilling.” (Matthew 23:37)  That passage causes me pain, always has.  I see, in my limited ability, a love that cuts through ugliness and meanness and still wants to gather and protect.   Jesus longed to love and protect them, just as He always had. 

Both passages remind me of how amazing is the love of God!  It transcends all love, mother love included.  And while we as moms, feel as though we are being pecked to death, Jesus really was put to death.  His great love went to the cross and scorning the shame and enduring the pain.  WHY?   “I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)  And as Ezekiel says, “I will manifest My holiness in them…they will live…securely.”  Praise God for His abundant love through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Internal Violence

Our pastor has been preaching on self-centeredness and pride for a few weeks.  Humility is the trait that Christians have to learn in order to combat those sins.  The sermon series has been very convicting for this Christian!  And my study in Ezekiel has given me more concrete consequences of those destructive tendencies. 

Ezekiel 26 through 28 gives us the demise of Tyre.  John MacArthur, in his notes on this section, says that the fact the destruction covers three chapters shows its importance to God.  Tyre had great influence.  It was the commercial center of the Mediterannean.  It was perfect in beauty, borders were strategically located, buildings above par, well-bred slaves, armies made of the nation’s finest.   Well, let me just say, it was a choice place to be.  Verse 25 of chapter 27 says, “you were filled and were very glorious in the heart of the seas.”  There is much more in these chapters than I can include here.  Just read and learn for yourself about Tyre’s beauty, popularity, occupations, and importance from these three chapters alone.  But for this post, I want to focus on the sin of pride and what God thinks of it, from these passages.

From chapter 28, we learn that the king of Tyre’s heart had lifted up to the point that he said “I am a god”; I sit as god in the heart of the seas.”  He thought it was his wisdom and power that brought him to this high position.  He was proud, cocky and cold-hearted.  And all his and his nation’s pride, the unrighteousness in trade, profaned worship and all the wretched sinfulness that stems from internal worship of self, consumed and ultimately destroyed and turned them to nothing.  There was nothing to show of Tyre but a non-descript village.  John Mac study notes say, “All the predictions in [these chapters] have been fulfilled with amazing accuracy.”

God says in chapter 26: 21, of Tyre, “I will bring terrors on you and you will be no more; though you will be sought, you will never be found again.”  And of the king of Tyre, well, here’s the part that I describe as true terror unleashed and uncomforted: “you will cease to be forever.” (28:19)  The king thought he was something he could never be and therefore he became nothing. 

 In chapter 28:16 it says, “By the abundance of your trade, you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned”.  I think “internally filled with violence” is a good description of pride.  And God goes on to say in that verse, “Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God.”  I would say He is pretty serious about this sin.  I would even go so far to say, that it may be the sin of sins.

Believer, let us be rid of this sin on a daily basis.  Fight it, whip it, defeat it!  As I quoted John Owen in Erring Hearts, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”  “Internally filled with violence”, “cast you as profane”, “cease to be forever” are phrases to be pondered.  They may not be happy phrases but I would say they are some serious caution signs that could prevent great tragedy and promote a passionate pursuit of the power of God toward overcoming the wretched sin of pride.

Shadow of the Cross

This excerpt from a prayer by John MacArthur speaks volumes to challenge us in our walk with Christ.

"Now when we ponder the cross, we are reminded of how much Christ has done for us.  There we also learn the need to separate ourselves from worldly vanities.  There we see the extent of true humility.  There we find assurance of our salvation, motivation for self-denial, hope to cheer our troubled hearts, love to energize our obedience, a grand example to guide our footsteps, and a powerful reminder that our only reasonable service is to become living sacrifices of praise.  So we stand now in prayer under the shadow of the cross, realizing that this is the only place we could ever find true contentment amid the difficulties of life's trials and heartaches.  Here is where all our needs are met and more!"

Jots and Tittles

Here’s a loose count of two beneficial phrases from the book of Ezekiel.

“Then the word of the LORD came to me…”  43 times

“Then they will know that I am the LORD…”  32 times

You say, “Well, so what?”  I say,  you have the great privilege everyday to “come to the word of the LORD” that you “will know that He is the LORD.”  With that kind of perspective starting off your day, how different you will react to the many situations that come your way.  How secure it is to “know that He is the LORD.”  How gracious and loving is our Creator God who wants us to know Him.

We must not discount one “jot or tittle” even when it comes from a book we find hard to understand or have a hard time enjoying.  This is a lesson to me!! 

Fleshly Provisions

“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”  Romans 13:14   Make no provision for the flesh!!!

John MacArthur has a book of prayers from which I begin my morning study.  This morning as I reflected on his prayer, which I’ll share at the end, I walked over to pray and noticed not just dust on my coffee table but chucks of dirt.  (Of course, that is the Enemy trying to divert my attention from God to worldly endeavors, which worked for a minute.)  And I thought, it hasn’t been that long since I cleaned that table! How quickly it again needs attention.  WOW!  Immediately, I realized that it is the same thing Pastor MacArthur was asking in his prayer.  And I began thinking of what our lives would look like unchecked by the Word, the Spirit, and other believers.  My mind went to how bad a house can look if left to itself even without occupants much more with occupants.  Then I began to think of the wretched sinfulness of those in scripture who had no desire to follow God and no moral compass.  Of course, on I continued to the things I’ve seen and heard in my own lifetime that is a result of sin unchecked.

Even as I write this, I am calling to mind my own prayer that I started the day with about a sin of the mind that had to be confessed to God with repentance and grief because I sinned against a suffering, bleeding Savior Who had secured my salvation!!  Yes, a sin of the mind, one that no one knows about but God.  We MUST NOT make ANY provision for the flesh or our “house” will be consumed by filth before we know it!

I really could go on with these thoughts but I’d rather share John Mac’s prayer.  May it be every believer’s prayer for each day as we live in a world of sin and still deal with our own sin.  “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make NO provision for the flesh!”

“Empower us unto holiness as we seek to walk in a way that is consistent with Your wonderful love and Your perfect righteousness.  Give us humility to know that no matter how we resolve to live to Your honor, we have no strength of our own to accomplish that end.  So we walk by faith from day to day, depending on our heavenly Father to meet our needs.  Grant us more of the faith that overcomes the world.  It is our blessed privilege as Your children to come boldly to the throne of grace again and again, [Did you get that?  AGAIN AND AGAIN!!]  where we always receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  Christ paid an infinite price to cover our sins, and therefore the wellspring of Your mercy is free and inexhaustible.  Such is the great love You bestowed on us, even when we were dead in our trespasses.”

Blood on the Door

Consider this powerful statement from 1 Corinthians 5:7b:  “For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”  Right in the middle of Paul reprimanding the Corinthians for their lack of discipline of believers involved in sin, here is this beautiful reminder.  Christ, God in the flesh, was sacrificed as our Passover Lamb!  This is not a thought that should be “passed over”.  This is the Hub of the wheel of Christianity!  Jesus is our Blood on the doorpost!  Eternal death will pass over us because of Him and Him ALONE!     

 For the Israelites, the blood of the lamb without blemish was put on their doorpost.  God warned them of the coming death of all firstborn children in Egypt.  He made provision that would enable this certain death to “pass over” that family’s firstborn.  If they trusted God and obeyed, they were spared the grief.  Those who did not know God or did not listen, grieved this loss of life.

God, in Christ, has made this provision for all eternity.  This fact and reason for all Christianity should be our daily meditation.  And this wonderful meditation is our motive for every spiritual move we make.  David Brainerd, a missionary to the American Indian, wrote the following in his diary:  “I never got away from Jesus, and Him crucified, and I found that when my people were gripped by this great evangelical doctrine of Christ and Him crucified, I had no need to give them instructions about morality.  I found that one followed as the sure and inevitable fruit of the other… I find my Indians begin to put on the garments of holiness and their common life begins to be sanctified even in small matters when the are possessed by the doctrine of Christ and Him crucified.”

“For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”  It’s done, we’re covered; eternal death will pass over us!  This is cause for rejoicing!  Be “gripped and possessed by this doctrine of Christ and Him crucified”!  

Erring Hearts

In Psalm 95:10, God said of His people, “they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways.”  He tells the details of the activities that showed this.  You can read it in Exodus 17 or Deuteronomy 6, 9, 33 or  a multiple of other passages in the Bible.  And erring hearts will look differently for different people but the bottom line for this post is that whatever it is, we better be all about getting rid of it. 

The first way to deal with erring hearts is running to God in prayer.  Consider the follow excerpts from a couple of prayers of John MacArthur: 

“We confess with deep sadness, that we are rebellious by nature, so we do not always serve You as we should.  We want to bask in the fullness of Your joy and find our deepest delight in the sunshine of Your glory.  Yet we are prone to wander.  We are too easily tempted.  We are weak and worldly and wrong-hearted creatures, great debtors to Your mercy and in desperate need of Your grace.”

“Dear Lord of all mercy, remove from our hearts the festering pride, evil desire, false motives, insincerity, envy, longing for worldly prominence, and every other secret sin.”

Great prayers!  I love the last part of the second quote, “and every other secret sin”.  Let’s get it all.  John Owen said, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” 

And remember, as the first prayer says, “We want to bask in the fullness of Your joy and find our deepest delight in the sunshine of Your glory.”  At the end of Psalm 95, God says of the people He is referring, “Truly, they shall not enter into My rest.”

We cannot bask in the fullness of God’s joy with an erring heart!  Let’s get busy confessing, asking and dealing with the sin of an erring heart.