GOD HAS NOT FORGOTTEN
Friday, 29th July 2016
Ezekiel 37: 15-28 (NKJV)
15Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
16 “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’
17 Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.
18 “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’—
19 say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’
20 And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.
21 “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;
22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.
23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God. …
The breakup of Israel after the death of Solomon into two kingdoms was a major event in the life of the young nation of Israel. The ten northern tribes abandoned the house of David and his grandson Rehoboam and chose Jeroboam as their king. Only two tribes in the south – Judah and Benjamin stayed with Rehoboam. Although this division happened because Rehoboam, in his foolishness, rejected the wise counsel of the elders, it had been decreed by God as a punishment for Solomon’s apostasy. The division brought bitter feud, hostility and contentions between the two kingdoms, which they also carried into captivity. From the way things were going, it would have been thought that God was no longer interested in the unity of the nation of Israel.
However, in today’s passage, God spoke to the Prophet Ezekiel and gave him a promise to the people about His plan to reunite them. Child of God, do not despair. God has not forgotten your matter. That challenge is not out of God’s radar. It has an expiring date and the time has come. There is a promise for you this morning. The Lord is saying: “In My hand, that matter will be resolved”. The two sticks will join together again. The division in your home, in your marriage, in your office, will surely be settled. Let us go to God in prayers on His promise.
Prayer: Dear Father, let there be peace all around me. Every area of my need where it seems I have been forgotten, please send Your word to stir up a remembrance for me, and a positive settlement.