Today's Scripture Reading (August 3, 2026): Ezekiel 10
As a sports fan, I've had numerous times when I
thought my team had the game won, only to watch the opposition stage an amazing
comeback. And there have been moments when I thought my team was about to lose,
only to watch them come back. I remember a hockey game a couple of decades ago
when my team was down five goals by the end of the first period. I really
thought the game was over. The second period went by with no scoring. I guess
the reality for the team in the lead was that five goals were more than enough.
However, in the third period, the team I was cheering for began to score. One,
two, it was still a long shot, but I kept watching. Late in the third period,
the feel of the game had changed. It was five to four when my team pulled their
goaltender for an extra attacker. With the momentum solidly on their side of
the ice, my team scored the tying goal and won the game in overtime. It doesn't
happen often, but sometimes a team gets lucky. Confidence turns to panic, and
nothing a team does seems right.
In many ways, this is
simply the story of life. It does not seem to take us long to go from the top
of the world to life in the pits. Everything is interconnected, and a slide in
one area of our lives quickly becomes a problem in another. And it does not
just happen to us. We watch as our mood starts to be reflected in those closest
to us, and then slowly spreads to everyone with whom we have contact. The fog
that once resided with us now resides with those around us. But it isn't just
with the bad that this is true; it also concerns the good. Smile at those
around you, and you might be surprised how little time it takes before they are
smiling back at you. We are designed to have an amazing influence on each other
in the arena, on the court, on the field, and in life.
Ezekiel describes a scene
in Jerusalem. The Glory of the Lord begins to be on the move. It rises like a
fog above the cherubim, most likely a reference to the precious Ark of the
Covenant, which resided in the Holy of Holies. But this move of God could not
be confined to the most Holy place of the Temple. It kept moving until it had
encompassed the entire Temple, the very place where the priests did their
ministry before God. But even the threshold of the Temple could not stop God.
From the Temple, God's move spread to the courts. It started with the court of
men, where the Hebrew men gathered to worship, and then moved to the court of
women, where the women worshipped God. But even then, God was not done. The
Spirit then moves out into the court of the Gentiles. Symbolically, Ezekiel's
vision meant that God's move now occupied the world; all of it, not just the
Jewish portion.
This vision is one that, as
Christians, we understand to be the move of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus
was clear; the gospel started with the Jews. But it could not be contained
there. While it started among the Jews, it would spread into the court of the
Gentiles and over the entire world. And this becomes our mission. We are the
ones who are to carry the message of Christ into the world because God refuses
to be contained. We are designed to be an influence for Christ in the world,
and if we truly understand our place, that is exactly what we will be.
Tomorrow's
Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 11
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