I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:5-6.

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:5-6.

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in You. Psalm 33:22.

Something that has always puzzled me in reading Scripture is that if you do well you will live and if you do evil you will die; and yet we all die a physical death when our time on earth is complete. And I have hope in Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, for each of us because He is so good and when we turn to Him, our lives change. Two excerpts show that difference today in understanding. From You Are The Beloved by Henri Nouwen: “It seems crucial that you realize deeply that your worth and value does not depend on anyone else. You have to claim your own inner truth. You are a person worth being loved and called to give love, not because anyone says so…but because you are created out of love and live in the embrace of a God who didn’t hesitate to send His only Son to die for us…Your being good and worthy of love does not depend on any human being. You have to keep saying to yourself: “I am being loved by an unconditional, unlimited love and that love allows me to be a free person, center of my own actions and decisions.” The more you can come to realize this, the more you will be able to forgive those who have hurt you and love them in their brokenness. Without a deep feeling of self-respect, you cannot forgive and will always feel anger, resentment, and revenge. The greatest human act is forgiveness: “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” Forgiveness stands in the center of God’s love for us and also in the center of our love for each other. Loving one another means forgiving one another over and over again.” And the second excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers: “We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God – we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them – not because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and humiliation for ignoring Him. “You speak with us…but let not God speak with us” (Exodus 20:19). We show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we don’t want God Himself to speak to us. Why are we so terrified for God to speak to us? It is because we know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking to us, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying, “Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what you said is probably God’s truth.” Am I constantly humiliating God by ignoring Him, while He lovingly continues to treat me as His child? Once I finally do hear Him, the humiliation I have heaped on Him returns to me. My response then becomes, “Lord, why was I so insensitive and obstinate?” This is always the result once we hear God. But our real delight in finally hearing Him is tempered with the shame we feel for having taken so long to do so.” Don’t let shame win! Go forward and embrace God’s love for you and trust His timing and His will in your life and all our lives.

And in our chapter, Ezekiel 18, we go to the Scripture that has always puzzled me; but read with the understanding of God’s good love. The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: “‘The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For everyone belongs to Me, the parent as well as the child – both alike belong to Me. The one who sins is the one who will die.” v. 1-4. It goes on to contrast what a righteous man does who does what is right…with the opposite of that with a violent son who does what is wrong; or with what the son of a violent man does who chooses not to do the evil his father does, v. 5-24. “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is My way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die. Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are My ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?” Can we stop and consider our own hearts? “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” v. 30-32.

I trust Creator God who has made all we see including all of us. He knows this world we live in because He created it. He understands how confusing our broken world is without Him helping us to understand. He knows the hurts we receive and inflict upon each other and He knows that healing takes time. And He rejoices when we turn to Him and begin our own journey of understanding with Him guiding us. It’s personal and life-changing and so very, very good…a new heart and a new spirit!