Coverage
This week is on Ezekiel 34:25-31:
These verses are God talking about his people. They come after a few paragraphs of him talking about the selfishness of mankind, and how we shove each other out of the way for things and abuse each other. But here God is talking about his divine rule over us. It stands in stark contrast to mankind's rule over one another. God's rule carries a blessing. It reaches into all areas of our lives.
God signs a contract to furnish peace to us, and rids our wilderness of wild beasts so that we can sleep in safety. The peace is something God gives to us. He says "I will do this." Wild beasts are unpredictable and destructive. They disturb our peace. You can't have a calm and restful night if wild dingoes are carrying off your baby. Lions seeking to devour the fruits of your labor or to tear your loved ones to shreds are also wild beasts. God said he'd rid the land of them. The places which used to be dangerous and unpredictable are now a blessing under God's rule.
God will send showers in season. Most of us outside of farm country hate the rain. But the rain is the fuel that makes God's creation grow. Without the heavenly flow of water, all life would cease. But if it rained all of the time, nothing would grow properly either. God sends the showers in season. He fuels creation and knows the timing of when his blessing must occur.
The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops. God's creation at its best is a mechanism of blessing. We don't have to turn a crank or drop coins into a slot to make it happen. The okra plant doesn't base its crop on how pretty we are. The number of apples a tree produces doesn't depend on whether or not we're behaving ourselves. It's a machine. Machines do what they're built to do. And God built the machine of his creation.
We will know that God is our Lord when he breaks the yoke over us and rescues us from what enslaves us. We all end up in situations that enslave us and rule over us. Sometimes we can't get out. When that situation cracks under the force of God's power, and inexplicably you are no longer stuck, you can only explain it one way. A lot of people have testimonies about God delivering them from addictions. Like they struggled and fought under the power of it for years, getting nowhere, but one day woke up without any desire to continue in it. Sometimes our yoke is heavy. We have guilt, or depression, or a senseless need to control things that are outside of our control, and we struggle every step of the way because we aren't meant to drag the kind of weight life has placed on our shoulders. God breaks that off of us. We don't need it.
The question I find myself asking is, does any form of human power provide all of these things that God provides us? I can't think of any. It might affect things on a small scale, but nobody provides with such comprehensive effectiveness as God does. He keeps us safe. He provides what we need. And he removes weariness and torment from our backs so that we can move forward in freedom. Take a moment and meditate on the blessings God has offered us. His coverage has no gaps. His love makes sure we need fear nothing, that we lack nothing, and that nothing keeps us from being free.
“‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the Israelites, are my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
These verses are God talking about his people. They come after a few paragraphs of him talking about the selfishness of mankind, and how we shove each other out of the way for things and abuse each other. But here God is talking about his divine rule over us. It stands in stark contrast to mankind's rule over one another. God's rule carries a blessing. It reaches into all areas of our lives.
God signs a contract to furnish peace to us, and rids our wilderness of wild beasts so that we can sleep in safety. The peace is something God gives to us. He says "I will do this." Wild beasts are unpredictable and destructive. They disturb our peace. You can't have a calm and restful night if wild dingoes are carrying off your baby. Lions seeking to devour the fruits of your labor or to tear your loved ones to shreds are also wild beasts. God said he'd rid the land of them. The places which used to be dangerous and unpredictable are now a blessing under God's rule.
God will send showers in season. Most of us outside of farm country hate the rain. But the rain is the fuel that makes God's creation grow. Without the heavenly flow of water, all life would cease. But if it rained all of the time, nothing would grow properly either. God sends the showers in season. He fuels creation and knows the timing of when his blessing must occur.
The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops. God's creation at its best is a mechanism of blessing. We don't have to turn a crank or drop coins into a slot to make it happen. The okra plant doesn't base its crop on how pretty we are. The number of apples a tree produces doesn't depend on whether or not we're behaving ourselves. It's a machine. Machines do what they're built to do. And God built the machine of his creation.
We will know that God is our Lord when he breaks the yoke over us and rescues us from what enslaves us. We all end up in situations that enslave us and rule over us. Sometimes we can't get out. When that situation cracks under the force of God's power, and inexplicably you are no longer stuck, you can only explain it one way. A lot of people have testimonies about God delivering them from addictions. Like they struggled and fought under the power of it for years, getting nowhere, but one day woke up without any desire to continue in it. Sometimes our yoke is heavy. We have guilt, or depression, or a senseless need to control things that are outside of our control, and we struggle every step of the way because we aren't meant to drag the kind of weight life has placed on our shoulders. God breaks that off of us. We don't need it.
The question I find myself asking is, does any form of human power provide all of these things that God provides us? I can't think of any. It might affect things on a small scale, but nobody provides with such comprehensive effectiveness as God does. He keeps us safe. He provides what we need. And he removes weariness and torment from our backs so that we can move forward in freedom. Take a moment and meditate on the blessings God has offered us. His coverage has no gaps. His love makes sure we need fear nothing, that we lack nothing, and that nothing keeps us from being free.
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