November 4

Today's Reading

In Ezekiel today, God used a vision to transport the prophet back to Jerusalem. Ezekiel was in exile in Babylon. There, the Lord showed Ezekiel how sinful the attitudes of the people were. Then God promised a day would come when the exiles would return and God would change their hearts. That prophecy will ultimately be fulfilled with Christ's return. However, it was partially fulfilled in the day of Ezra and Nehemiah, which we have already read this year.

Hebrews today is one of the difficult New Testament passages to interpret. Is God saying that we can be "enlightened", then lose our salvation? Some interpret the passage that way, but they have a difficulty with it. The Christians who believe we can lose our salvation tend to believe we can get it back again by repenting and this passage seems to say the opposite. These difficult verses are one reason I believe that the letter was written to a group of believers who were in danger of missing their destiny. They would be like the generation of Israel who died in the wilderness. They weren't far from the Promised Land (the abundant life God promises), but they missed it because they wouldn't believe God and take the Land by faith.

Psalms today reviews a key part of Israel's history. How do you keep your family's history alive?

Proverbs: if it's good, it's from God. If it's bad, I messed it up.

What speaks to you today?