Live Faithfully (Ezekiel 15:8)
And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.
– Ezekiel 15:8
What an indictment. They have acted faithlessly. And as I read that… And just meditate on that, let that soak in. I think, “Oh, is there any way that I am acting faithlessly?”
Ezekiel 15:8 shows the danger of living without trust in God.
And my mind just goes in multiple directions as I think about that word, “faithless”. Obviously, sin is well defined later in the New Testament as whatever doesn’t proceed from faith. That whenever I sin, it’s because I’m not trusting God. I’m not acting out of faith in God. I’m trusting in myself. And that’s what leads me to sin in any number of ways. And so for you and I both to see today that any areas where we struggle with sin, it’s a struggle of faith, it’s a struggle to believe God, to believe that God knows what is best. A struggle to believe that God’s ways, his Word, are good and will lead to our good. So, look at the root of sin as a faithlessness.
And then even to think about ways where I am living out of a lack of trust in God, a lack of hope in God, with circumstances in my life or circumstances around me where I’m tempted to worry, I’m tempted to be anxious, or afraid. None of those things proceed from faith.
If I’m trusting in God, then I’ll be free. This is Matthew 6 from worry, Philippians 4, free from being anxious, and free from fear. Faith frees us from fear. If we know God is in control and God is good and God is sovereign over all things, and God is holding me and all things in his hand, then I’m free from fear through faith. And so I just want to pray for our faith today.
Ezekiel 15:8 calls us to wholehearted trust in God’s wisdom and ways.
God, please deliver us from faithlessness today, from acting faithlessly. Lord, when we are tempted to sin in any way, help us to fight that temptation with faith, with trust in you, trust in your Word, trust in your ways, trust in your wisdom, that you are good, and obeying your Word will always lead to our good. God, help us to live with that kind of faith today in the face of any temptation, including, oh God, any temptation not to trust in you with our lives. Any temptation to worry, any temptation to anxiety or fear.
God, we pray that you would free us from worry, from being anxious. Please free us, God, from all fear today through faith. Help us to walk full of faith in you today at every moment, to resist the temptation of the adversary, to not trust you, to not hope in you, to not believe that you’re working for our good.
To not follow you in your Word and your ways. And in all of this, to know you are the good, wise, sovereign, loving God who is worthy of our trust. You are worthy of our faith. You are faithful always. So we pray that you would deliver us from faithlessness. Help us to walk full of faith today and to spread faith. Help us to encourage others and their faith today and to lead others to faith in you, to trust in you, to point others to your faithfulness.
Prayer for the Rawas People
God, we pray specifically today for the Rawas people of Indonesia, for 235,000 of them in Indonesia who don’t know this Muslim people group who don’t know your faithfulness, Lord Jesus. They don’t know your faithfulness to go to the cross for them to die for their sins, for their faithlessness, that they might be reconciled to you, your resurrection from the dead, that they might have eternal life with you. God, we pray that the Rawas people would be reached with the good news of your faithfulness in Jesus. God, help us to live with faith today, all day long at every moment, and to lead others to faith here and to use our resources to lead others to faith in you around the world. We pray all this in Jesus’ name according to your Word in Ezekiel 15:8. Amen.
