Questions of Life and Death

S - Ezekiel 33:10-11, 13-16 (NIV): "“Son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’ … If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but then he trusts in his righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered; he will die for the evil he has done. 14 And if I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but he then turns away from his sin and does what is just and right— 15 if he gives back what he took in pledge for a loan, returns what he has stolen, follows the decrees that give life, and does no evil, he will surely live; he will not die. 16 None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live."


O - The question was, because of our sins and the circumstances surrounding us, how then can we live? The Lord's response is immediate and filled with hope. His response and Israel's remedy is based upon His eternal, indestructible and irrepressible life - 'As surely I live, declares the Sovereign Lord,'. The Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked and no variances for the righteous. The wicked must turn from their evil ways and the righteous must NOT trust in their righteousness and both are called to 'follow the decrees that give life.' No matter what we face or what we've done there is the way of life for all who will follow.

A - Following is critical. Following involves my will and decisions I am empowered/expected to make. The free will given by the Lord does not mean free from consequence. Life and death do hang in the balance but the Living God has no pleasure in death including the death of the wicked. Even when we are besieged by pressurized and desperate situations (caused by others or of our own making) life is still available and the call to follow hasn't changed. Israel's question was how to live and the Lord's question is why will you die? All are called to turn, to turn into life and away from death. It’s a turn we have to take more than once in our lives and more than once in a day. The call of life, the call of Jesus hasn't changed: "Follow me."

P - Dear Lord who is Life,

Thank you for all you are doing known and unknown to me! Lord Jesus, I choose to follow, to turn-in, to come under, to humble myself under your mighty hand, to welcome your promises from afar and your will on earth like they do in heaven. Lord, let me be one who is receiving your life, refreshing, vibrant, irrepressible and pure. Let me be one through whom you give life of the exact same order. Thank you for my assignment and for all that I can't do, can't control and can't influence. Thank you for loving me, wanting me and calling me to yourself. Let your purposes be on, in and through me today. Let me bring you glory and make you glad. Thank you for daily bread and for daily direction and daily life. Thank you for letting me love you back and for allowing such to matter to you (it is the world to me)! This day is your day, I will follow and keep turning in.

Nai Kurie (Yes, Lord),

Steve

Leadership Essentials for Today and the Future

S - 2 Chronicles 9:8, 1 Kings 11:2-5, 9-13 (NLT): "The Lord your God is great indeed! He delights in you and has placed you on the throne to rule for him. Because God loves Israel so much and desires this kingdom to last forever, he has made you king so you can rule with justice and righteousness.” … 2 The Lord had clearly instructed his people not to intermarry with those nations, because the women they married would lead them to worship their gods. Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. And sure enough, they led his heart away from the Lord. 4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship their gods instead of trusting only in the Lord his God, as his father, David, had done. 5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. … 9 The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command. 11 So now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my laws, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. 12 But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. 13 And even so, I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”"

O - The working definition of covenant (it matters to me because it matters to you) is fully at work in this sad exchange between the Lord and Solomon. The Lord will delay what has become, at Solomon's insistence, the inevitable disassembling of Israel for the sake of his covenant with David. It mattered to David and so for his sake it would matter to the Lord even though David was no longer on the scene. David's life was not without some major stumbling but it was without consistent disregard for that which mattered to the Lord. Solomon's failures were different than David's.
Solomon failed to:
1. Stay astonished at the Lord and that the Lord would use him.
2. Live out the fierce personal loyalty the Lord offers and requires.
David's failures were:
1. Violating the written voice in adultery, murder and numbering the people.
2. Allowing murders (Joab) and incest (Absalom & Tamar).
David made the way for the next generation to exceed and excel all he ever did. Solomon doomed the next generation to decline and difficulties. David is forever the man after God's own heart and Solomon isn't.

A - Clearly, I want to live out my purpose in my generation as David did. I want to enable the generation coming behind me to exceed and excel. I want to be so strongly committed to Jesus that I can lay up and prepare for that which I will never see, worship in, enjoy or be directly identified with (Solomon's temple not David's). As long as the Lord allows me to have a leadership function my assignment is to live out loud the reality of covenant, astonishment at his person and his partnership through me and to consistently respond (even amidst some failures) with the fierce personal loyalty he deserves. I really do want to live this way this day and every day while it is called today!

P - God of Covenants,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit - thank you for wanting and enabling me/us to covenant relationship with you. Thank you for letting me/us come near and stay near. Thank you for wanting us at our worst and not just at our best … and for making a way at our worst to renew and respond in covenant class relationship. You really are slow to anger and quick to forgive. Lord, thank you for this day and for all it holds - most of which is yet a mystery to me. Thank you for the mundane and for the outrageous love and intense challenges which come our way in the blink of an eye … for you are purposeful in everything you cause and in everything you allow, working it all for good. Lord, enable me to join you in your work and to bring you glory and make you glad. Let me be a real leader and so engage you, your spirit, voice and word that those who come behind will exceed and excel it all.
I ask in Jesus' name,
Steve