S. O. A. P.
Here’s Your 90 second AM Devotional!
S-cripture:
Ezekiel 32:2a
“Son of man, take up a lament concerning Pharaoh King of Egypt.”
O-bservation:
There were many Pharaohs through the years that the Old Testament covered, and this is not a Pharaoh that many are aware of. His name is hard to spell and even harder to say. His name was Pharaohhophra or Apries. God said to Ezekiel. “Proclaim A Funeral Dirge,’ for this wicked man. Don’t be sorry for him. Don’t suggest he might die as a result of his horrendous atrocities against neighboring nations and his own people, but rather let him know that he MOST CERTAINLY will be destroyed!” This prophecy came to pass in the 37th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign in Babylon. Indeed he did destroy Apries.
A-pplication:
Sometimes I think we take God’s judgment as if it has only happened to people living thousands of years ago. We do what we want and then say, “Well, those prophecies, or that warning, are certainly not for me. I’m living in the age of grace.” It is true that we are living under the New Covenant banner of GRACE, yet God is still God. We must not operate as though he will continually turn his head the other way when it comes to sin. There is the sin that happens when we are caught off guard and are blindsided by temptation, and we mess up. But then there is the willful sin that happens when it’s planned out and then acted upon. I believe there’s grace for both, but I believe there is less grace for the latter. Why do I say that? Here’s what the writer of Hebrews says, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. (Heb. 10:26,27) You can talk about grace all you want, but that’s the New Testament truth right there.
P-rayer:
Dear Jesus,
I don’t ever want to have a funeral dirge proclaimed over me by you for my rebellion. I yielded my life to you as a young man. With your help, my sacrifice will never leave the altar. Amen
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