December 1 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Ezekiel 16:1-6:

¹Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
²Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
³And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
⁴And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
⁵None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.
⁶And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

Devotional

Man, natural man, is sinful, carnally minded, flesh. And in our flesh dwelleth no good thing. "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." "There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." "To be carnally minded is death. . . the carnal mind is enmity against God." "They that are in the flesh cannot please God. They are dead in trespasses and sins. The prophet Ezekiel gives us a graphic picture of spiritual death. The Lord showed him a valley full of bones. These bones were very dry. There was no life in them: hence no life could come from them. These bones could become alive only by the breath of life which God would cause to enter into them. Thus it is with fallen man. God saw us in our wretched condition, saw us from all eternity, and determined that we should live. But why should God bother about a valley full of dry bones? Why should He be concerned about sinners, who are spiritually dead, and are his enemies? The answer is, He loved us in Christ Jesus, having "chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

Prayer

O God, we stand amazed at Thine infinite love wherewith Thou hast loved us. We were reconciled unto Thee by the death of Thy Son, when we were enemies. Much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Thou didst not spare Thine own Son, but didst deliver him up for us all, and are willing with him freely to give us all things. O God, we are but dust and ashes; but be pleased to accept our humble thanks for Jesus' sake, and help us to live unto Thee. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Rom. 7:18; Matt. 15:19; Rom. 3:22, 23; Rom 8:6-8; Eph. 2:1; Ezek. 37:14; Eph. 1:4-6.

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