Day 275
Ezekiel 36:33-36
"Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and wastes shall be builded.
And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.
And they shall say, this land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.
Through the prophet Ezekiel, God prophesied the changes that would take place in the land of Israel and among its people. These changes would occur for His name's sake. The Israelites were the people who were called by His name. They had turned away from God and were scattered, and their land had been destroyed. The heathen around them knew about their God but could only form their opinions about him based on what they saw. The Israelites did not represent God accurately and had brought judgment on themselves. However, God wanted the heathen to know the truth about Him. So, He moved among His people and changed them and their land to show that he was one who would restore what was destroyed.
When God sends us on a mission to build, to plant or to restore, it is important that we realize the assignment is to show God off and not to receive glory for ourselves. We must shun opportunities to focus attention on ourselves and tum the heathens' attention toward God. We must also be very confident about what can happen, because it is not we, primarily, who want the mission accomplished - it is God's idea. We may feel like we want this project accomplished. We may even want to boast about our compassion for those we are about to help. However, although we may have great motivation, even the desire and compassion we have has been given to us by God because of what He wants to do through us.
Whenever God gives us a project that seems impossible - one where everything good seems to have been destroyed and hope seems unreasonable, it would be a good idea to research the history of the situation and find out what used to be there. In many instances, God worked in that area, at one time or another but the wickedness of people caused it to become desolate. God, however, is a restorer. He rises up for his own name's sake and moves to rebuild what has been broken down. He inspired the rebuilding of the temple in Ezra's day, the rebuilding of the wall in Nehemiah's day and the rebuilding of the nation of Israel in our day. Destruction comes because of man's wickedness. Restoration comes because of God's goodness.
So, when we are assigned to restore and rebuild, we must not think twice about whether or not it can be accomplished. As long as it is God's assignment, it will be done. He will not do it because of our goodness or the goodness of the people we reach out to. He will do it for His own name's sake.
I will humbly accept every assignment God gives me to restore and rebuild I will remain confident that the work will be accomplished. I will remember to give Him all the glory, even for the desire and compassion he has put in my heart to accomplish the task.