Wed.’s Devo - God’s Gift of Faith

Read: Ezekiel 27:1-28:26; Hebrews 11:17-31; Psalm 111:1-10; Proverbs 27:15-16 Ezekiel was told by God to sing a funeral song for Tyre. Tyre was the center of trade to the world. Tyre was divided into two parts. Old Tyre was on an island about a half mile off the shore. New Tyre was on the shore. They both received merchandise from all over the world. King Solomon got lumber and precious stones and artisans from Tyre to build the Temple. It was also known for its skilled archers and its sages. But, most of all, it was know for its pride and arrogance. *** God compared it to a ship that was in a storm that would take it down. Pride, beauty and power is no match for God. Ezekiel gave a message to the prince of Tyre (28:1-10). This was to the man who ruled in the flesh. He thought he was a god. Then Ezekiel gave a word to the king of Tyre (28:11-19) which was really a message to the principality over Tyre, which was Lucifer, himself. He describes Lucifer in the garden of Eden and his beauty before he fell. Lucifer was one of the cherubim of God, a guardian who had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. His pride led him to violence and sin so God banished him from his place of honor. He was thrown down to slither on the ground. As the ruler of nations and especially, Tyre where he ruled, God would destroy her with fire - a precursor of what the end will be for Satan in the lake of fire. *** Ezekiel’s attention was drawn to Sidon. Sidon was named for its founder who was the first born of Canaan in Genesis 10:15. It was famous for its fisheries and like Tyre it had great shops of glass and precious stones. Judgement was coming to her by way of a plague. They would be attacked from every direction and its people would be slaughtered. *** God promised to bring his people back and they would live safely in their own land. First, God had to punish all the nations around them so that they would know that He was God. *** In Hebrews, we continue reading about the people who had great faith. Abraham offered Isaac to God as a sacrifice even though he knew Isaac was the child God had promised his descendants would come through. He believed God could raise him from the dead. *** Isaac blessed his sons Jacob and Esau with promises of the future. Jacob passed on this blessing to his sons before he was about to die. Joseph commanded that they take his bones with them to the promised land so he would sleep in his promised land. *** By faith in God, Moses’ parents believed that their child was not to die under the edict of the king and they kept him hidden. They allowed him to be raised by the king of Egypt because they believed he had a purpose for his people. This seed of faith grew in Moses and when he was grown he refused to be called by the Pharoah’s name and chose to share in the oppression of his people. He met God in the wilderness and devoted his life to serving him. He told his people to observe the Passover sprinkling blood on their doorposts. They were saved from death and Moses led Israel through the Red Sea into freedom. All the Egyptians who tried to kill them drown in the Sea. *** It was by faith that Joshua had the people march around Jericho seven times and the walls came crashing down. It was Rahab’s faith that saved her and her family from death. *** And it is by faith that we believe in a God we have never seen with our eyes but felt in everything God has made. Faith is a gift we have been given and it is most precious of all gifts. *** Lord, thank you for the gift of faith. Thank you that we are of those you chose to redeem. May we honor that gift of salvation by choosing to follow you in all we do. You are our God, the Holy One.