Description
Ezekiel 36:26 may have been written to the Israelites, but it shows us the eternal, enduring heart of our Father.
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Transcript
Let’s meditate carefully on Ezekiel 36, verse 26. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
God in Ezekiel is talking to the Israelites who have turned away from him yet again. And God characterises them as being stony hearted, of not having right feeling. And he promises them that despite all that, despite their hard heartedness, he is going to restore them to right relationship with a fleshly heart that feels his love and returns it.
So that’s what he did for the Israelites. But this is in God’s character, isn’t it? I don’t know how far we’re getting on the spectrum of coolness towards God, but if we ask ourselves honestly, "How passionate, how loving am I towards God?", the answer’s likely to be, not as much as we could be.
And this verse gives us hope that we can reach out and call out to God and say, Lord, what you did for the Israelites, please do for me. I know that the Holy Spirit is doing his work within. So, Lord, please take my heart, to whatever extent it is becoming hard and stony, and soften it, and give me that heart of flesh, Lord. This is a good thing to say to our God, and He loves to love us, and He loves for us to love Him.
So we can be absolutely sure that this is the kind of prayer that He will answer, if we ask it with right motive, with the motive of obedience and love towards him. So let’s call out to God and ask it now.
Lord God, please take our hearts, however stony they are, and restore them. Please give us that heart of flesh. We want to be tender, kind, and compassionate. In fact, we want to be more like Jesus. Amen.
