Key Verses: Ezekiel 10:18a, 12:28
Then the glory of the Lord departed….Thus says the Lord God: “None of My words will be postponed anymore, but the word which I speak will be done,” says the Lord God.

In 1 Samuel 4:11-22 we find the story of an earlier time when the “Glory” departed from Israel. The time comes when God, who is 100% Holy, is so grieved by the actions of His people that He ceases to manifest His presence anymore until there is a deep sorrow for sin, a turning away from sin, and a turning back to Him. Phineas, son of the high priest Eli, who participated in removing the Ark of God from the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, was killed, and his widow bore a son whom she named “Ichabod,” which means “the glory has departed.” As our second key verse tells us, God will not postpone forever the consequences of human rebellion against His clearly stated will.

Don’t give up, family of God! He has made over 7,000 promises which are recorded in the Bible. Here’s one of them found in Ezekiel 11:17-19. Let’s read that one again from today’s reading. Verse 19 says, “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take away the stoney heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh.”

PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I think of the saying, “Have a heart!” Yes! I pray for that “one heart,” and that “new spirit” to be renewed daily within me. You have created me as an eternal being as spirit, soul (heart), mind, and body. Like a father and mother care for their children, so You care for me. I rest in Your arms, totally confident in the constancy of Your love! May Your presence, Your glory, permeate my entire being 24/7. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:
One time, shortly after Norma-Jean and I were married, we had retired for the night. I was half asleep when suddenly I was wide awake, sat bolt upright, and cried out in fear. Norma-Jean remembers this also. I sensed that an intensely evil presence had entered our bedroom and was threatening to destroy us. I cried out the name of our Lord and Saviour “Jesus” in a loud voice, and immediately that sense of dread and evil was gone, never to return to this day, 57 years later. That has happened only once, but over and over through the years I have experienced the Presence of our loving God, sometimes with greater intensity than at other times. The Scriptures tell us that in His “presence is fullness of joy!” King David wrote a song about this. Read Psalm 16:5-11.

Yours for experiencing the Presence of God! (He’s always there; I’m the one who is not constant. May God do an ongoing work in me until that day when I’ll see God face to face in eternity!),

David