OUR DAILY BREAD READING (Published Daily by Our Daily Bread Ministries)
READ: Ezekiel 14 (Focus vs.1–8)
MEMORY VERSE
“The Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!” Ezekiel 14:6
BACKGROUND
“Do you see it, brother Tim?” My friend, a Ghanaian pastor, flashed his torchlight on a carved object leaning against a mud hut. Quietly he said, “That is the village idol.” Each Tuesday evening, Pastor Sam traveled into the bush to share the Bible in this remote village.
In the book of Ezekiel, we see how idolatry plagued the people of Judah. When Jerusalem’s leaders came to see the prophet Ezekiel, God told him, “These men have set up idols in their hearts” (14:3).
God wasn’t merely warning them against idols carved of wood and stone. He was showing them that idolatry is a problem of the heart. We all struggle with it.
Bible teacher Alistair Begg describes an idol as “anything other than God that we regard as essential to our peace, our self-image, our contentment, or our acceptability.”
Even things that have the appearance of being noble can become idols to us. When we seek comfort or self-worth from anything other than the living God, we commit idolatry.
“Repent!” God said. “Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!” (v. 6). Israel proved incapable of doing this. Thankfully, God had the solution.
Looking forward to the coming of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit, He promised, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you” (36:26). We can’t do this alone.
By: Tim Gustafson
INSIGHT
As part of their subjugation strategy, the Babylonians forcibly exiled Jewish royalty, military leaders, and skilled workers to Babylon (2 Kings 24:10–16; Daniel 1:1–5), including the prophet and priest Ezekiel.
He was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon when he started ministering (Ezekiel 1:1–3) to the Jews in exile (3:11) as well as to those still residing in Judah (12:10).
After condemning the false prophets who taught that God wouldn’t punish His people for their sins (chs. 12–13), Ezekiel confronted the Jewish leaders for their hypocrisy and idolatry and urged God’s people to repent and turn from their idols (14:1–8).
By: K. T. Sim
APPLICATION
When stress hits you, where do you turn for comfort? What might you need to turn away from today?
PR’s (PASTOR RICHARD) TAKE
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” Jeremiah 17:9
PR’s RE-EMPHASIS (From Post)
“When we seek comfort or self-worth from anything other than the living God, we commit idolatry… idolatry is a problem of the heart. We all struggle with it.”
PRAYER
“Father, show me the idols in my heart. Then help me destroy them and live in Your love.”
TODAY’s HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“HAVE THINE OWN WAY LORD”
Have Thine own way Lord
Have Thine own way
Thou art the potter I am the clay
Mold me and make me after Thy will
While I am waiting yielded and still
Have Thine own way Lord
Have Thine own way
Search me and try me Master today
Whiter than snow Lord wash me just now
As in Thy presence humbly I bow
Have Thine own way Lord
Have Thine own way
Hold over my being absolute sway
Filled with Thy spirit till all can see
Christ only always living in me*
READING THROUGH THE BIBLE DAILY IN 2023
GENESIS 44-45
MATTHEW 12: 24-50