"Ark Building for Dummies"

Word Traveler

"my daily encounter with God through His Word"

Dave Scriven

Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA
Birthday: October 06

Title: Principal Broker
Company: RE/MAX

Bio: Bible guy, happily married, 7 kids, 1 cool grandkid, Realtor. If you want more, check out "My Story" at My Links below. Thanks! _______________________________ Credits: The black and white graphic of Moses at left of title bar is used by permission and entitled "The Spoken Law" by my friend and excellent comic book illustrator, Paul Gulacy.

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NOVEMBER 23, 2009 12:38PM

Rate: 1 Flag

Ezekiel 33.24-26 NET

“Son of man, the ones living in these ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land, but we are many; surely the land has been given to us for a possession.’ Therefore say to them, ‘…Do you really think you will possess the land? You rely on your swords and commit abominable deeds; each of you defiles his neighbor's wife. Will you possess the land?’”

In the wonderful and funny movie “Evan Almighty”, junior congressman Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) primps admiringly in the mirror and flippantly reminds himself, “I am successful. I am powerful. I am handsome. I am happy. Successful, powerful, handsome, happy.” Baxter must have attended a motivational seminars where you learn...

You are what you think you are and
You possess what you think you do.

If you can dream it, you can have it. Name it and claim it. Fake it till you make it. After all (so we’re told), it’s in the Bible. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he”, (Proverbs 23.7 KJV).[1] The new politician plans to change the world and he knows just how he will do it. God (Morgan Freeman) however, has different plans. He offers Evan a copy of Ark Building for Dummies and patiently leads Evan down a most unusual path.

The Jews living in Jerusalem during the time of Ezekiel faced opposition from an enemy intent on destroying Jewish culture and possessing the land of Israel. Those who survived deportation were barely able to withstand the assault of Babylon and tried to encourage themselves with Evan Baxter-type motivational pep talks...

“Abraham was only one man,

yet he possessed the land, but we are many;

surely the land has been given to us for a possession.”

The rationale went like this: “There are no secrets of success here. If Abraham could do it, so can we.” Israel failed to correctly discern what they saw in the mirror. No matter what they said to the contrary, the nation was anything but “successful, powerful, handsome, happy”. It takes more than saying the right kind of things. It takes being the right kind of person.

God has different plans for His chosen people. “Do you really think you will possess the land?” , inquired God. Surprise, surprise! It turns out Jesus actually cares about the behavior of His children. It matters that they “rely” on their own power, “commit abominable deeds”, and mentally ravish their “neighbor’s wife”. God’s blessing is unavailable to those of us who consciously act in self-serving ways… no matter what we think and say about ourselves.

This truth hasn’t changed since the time of Noah, Abraham, Ezekiel, or Jesus.
_____________________________

[1] Check out the context for this verse by reading Proverbs 23.6-8 in any version. The passage has more to do with the wisdom of understanding what others think of you than what you think of yourself.