Provoked to Jealousy and Birth

Last year I decided to read through the bible front to back, a decision I have made many times in the past and always ended up going back to my comfy place, the Psalms and/or Epistles.

But this time I have really stuck with it, a huge part of the reason has been that I didn't limit myself to one chapter a day. It's amazing how doing less can actually steal your motivation faster. It seems easier, but trust me, it's not.

Anyway, so I've gotten up to Ezekiel. While I was having fun trotting through all the symbolism in Ezekiel 8 this morning, I made a connection which I thought was pretty cool.

The chapter starts off with a being (angel, Holy Spirit, not really sure) appearing to Ezekiel and leading him through the temple. They start off at the door of the north gate of the inner court, it says, "where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy."

“Then He said to me, “Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy in the entrance. Furthermore He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.” So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door. And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” So I went in and saw, and there—every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls. And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.’ ” And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz."

I'll just interrupt here to explain that Tammuz was a "god of fertility," who had supposedly been banished to the underworld. I don't know if at this point in history they actually experienced a problem with childbearing, but the idea was that the fertility god was gone and no longer able to help them.

"Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.” So He brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east. And He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose. Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity;and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.” (Ezekiel‬ ‭8:1-18‬)

It seemed like there should be some significance in the order of the abominations shown to Ezekiel, since they started at the gate of the court, dug through the wall to find a door which they went into, and then went further still into the inner court of the Lord's house.

So naturally, I thought about lists which might match the "list" being built in this chapter. My first

thought was Egypt, Tammuz reminded me of their various fertility gods, and the sun worship reminded me of Ra. With the ten plagues, God attacked their gods by directly attacking that which their gods supposedly protected. (Ex: the darkness which covered the land, and the death of all the firstborn children)

After the plagues, God led His people out of Israel and gave them the Ten Commandments, which is where I looked.

What I found was that the list of the Ten Commandments did not match up with the four abominations Ezekiel saw, but interestingly, everything seemed to be covered in "the first and greatest commandment."

"And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus‬ ‭20:1-6‬)

"You shall have no other gods before Me." Like the idols they were burning incense to in the temple.

"Any likeness of anything that is in heaven above..." Like the sun they were worshipping with their
backs to the temple.

"...or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to 
them nor serve them." Like the animals they were also burning incense to.

"For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God..." Reminds me of the seat of jealousy which provokes to jealousy.

"...visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me..." Was Tammuz banished, or was God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children?



I don't know if this really has any intended significance, but here are some ideas I've been thinking about.

When God revealed the Ten Commandments, He had just led His people out of oppression, they were ready and willing to follow Him, they had a good future ahead. But God knew already then, that by Ezekiel's time, they would be doing the exact things He told them not to do. Yet the promise He offered was the same.

The way the two passages align is very similar, but the way they end is very different.

"Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in 
My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”

"but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

It sort of looks like the "Old Testament God" vs "New Testament God," but the great thing to realize is that the mercy one was written first. In foresight of all that would happen, "Old Testament God" promised that He would always punish evil, like He did in Ezekiel's time, and would always show mercy to those who broke the pattern of curse and chose to love Him.

Ezekiel and the Ten Commandments seems like a weird discussion at Christmas, but I actually think it ties in perfectly with this celebration.
We have provoked God to jealousy, we have broken His covenant and turned to other sources for what He promised to give us. He led us out of (figurative) Egypt and we turned right back to Egypt's chains.

His solution for us was to come and be born humbly in every possible respect, be raised among the children of the people who had exchanged Him for gods of wood and stone, and die the death of a criminal, amongst criminals, by the hands of criminals.

But He was not the sort of God that could be banished to the underworld, He rose again, proving to us that if death itself could not keep His love from us, who were we to think we could?

Merry Christmas friends. :)



Also...

Guess what? I'm going to Mississippi! The plan is to go to a summer dance intensive by one of my favorite companies, Ballet Magnificat, in July of 2018. To do that, I will need to raise some money, so if you would like to support my trip, you can check out my GoFundMe campaign HERE. Thanks in advance!

~Keturah

Life in Crystal Beach and Old Promises

Hello people!

I did it again, where I didn't write for a really long time and now I'm not sure where to start.

Well, I guess I'll give kind of an overview of what I've been up to/thinking about for the past little while.

As some of you know, I moved in with my sister and my second cousin, (who doubles as my dance teacher) in Crystal Beach, so I could take ballet classes back in September/October. I transferred work to a McDonalds in Fort Erie, and I stayed here for a month, and then went back home for October-November.

I came back near the end of November, and I'm here until the end of January, although I am going home in a couple days for Christmas and New Years. (So pumped!!)

That's a rough synopsis of what I've been doing, but as always, I much prefer writing about Jesus.

Oh....where to start....okay. Have you ever felt like you aren't in a bad place spiritually, you wouldn't really call it a dry season or a phase of darkness, but you just haven't felt the presence of God in a really long time? I've been realizing recently that my ability to quickly and confidently cast away doubts has gone down significantly, and I think it's because what I used to know so strongly is more of a memory for me now than a daily reality. So I've been praying and asking the Lord to send His presence to be with me in a way that I can't doubt anymore, and just waiting on Him to do it.

(Just to be clear, when I say I have been absent from His presence, I don't mean that either of us have forsaken or turned away from the other. Like I said, I'm not in a "dry" or "dark" place, but I have been missing feeling Him. I know I don't need to feel Him, truth is not based on feelings, but it is nice.)

Well a few days ago, He showed me something that encouraged me so much, and I am sharing it with you in hopes that it will encourage you too.

I read Psalm 121, and the whole thing was just really nice and comforting. You should read it, cause I'm only going to mention the last verse. (Seriously read it, it's short.)

“The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.” (Psalms‬ ‭121:8‬)

Verse 8 struck me because I realized that this promise is not starting now. "From this time forth," does not mean starting now and never ending, that verse was a promise to me when I first was born again into the family of God.

Five years ago, this promise was for me, and for five years it has never failed, and for the rest of my life it never will.

The other thing that stood out to me about the verse were the words "going out and coming in." Of where?

I have been feeling absent from the presence of God for a while now. I have been missing it. I miss just sitting with Him and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is with me, but this verse spoke so strongly to that feeling. If I would paraphrase the verse, I would say it like this.

"He will preserve your going out of His presence and your coming into His presence, from the moment you first entered and even forevermore."

So here's my last thought to close this up. If you are a long time Christian, you don't need a new promise. This one is for you, and God is so true to His promises, He doesn't need to give them again. Hold onto that. Know that He has never forgotten this promise since He gave it.

If you are not a Christian, this promise is being offered to you. You know what you need, you don't need me to tell you, but let God tell you He will give it to you.
The beginning of that chapter says, "I will look to the hills, from whence comes my help, my help comes from the Lord." So look. Look to Him, He is offering help, offering protection, offering love. All you have to do is take it.


Another Update:

After a loooong wait, I finally got my technical difficulties sorted out! So if you haven't heard, I'm planning on going to a summer dance intensive in Mississippi in July 2018! As you may imagine, it is quite expensive, so if you would like to help me out financially, I would appreciate it SO much. I have a GoFundMe page to make things real simple, so if you're interested, click HERE to check it out. :)
Thanks in advance!