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Day 230, or August the 18th. Always put God first. Our thoughts today are rooted in Ezekiel

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chapter 18 verse 25. Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not just. Here, you Israelites,

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is my way unjust. Is it not your ways that are unjust?

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And now the big picture surrounding this verse. Some people think that the idea of using

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stories or parables began with Jesus. But Ezekiel, along with many other prophets, used

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them to great effect. He tells some about Israel likening the nation to God's bride,

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a bit like the church is seen as the bride of Christ in the New Testament. He also gives

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us a parable about two eagles and another about the vine. Ezekiel becomes very personal

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in the midst of his teaching, as he talks about personal responsibility and the fact

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that each one of us must bear the judgment for our own sins.

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And now today's action step. God seems to be blamed for everything that human beings

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don't like. Through Ezekiel God challenges his people to think about this. Is it God's

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way or man's way that is unjust? When good things happen today, they are usually attributed

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to science or man's ingenuity. We regularly rub God of what is his due. Some time ago

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a sportsman collapsed from a heart attack and was rushed to hospital. Thanks to the

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immediate professional help that was available to him, he was rushed to hospital and lived.

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Great thanks were paid to all concerned, but the statement given by his family was the

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most profound. They said, We want to give thanks today firstly to God, who has answered

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our prayers, then to all of you who prayed, and finally to the medical staff who worked

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hard and skilfully to save the life of our loved one. They realized there was much skill

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involved, but they also accepted that it was God who ultimately healed. Throughout our

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lives we need to give thanks to God first and then thank others involved. It seems to

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me that the exclamation of thank God is usually an empty one. Let's reclaim it for our Lord

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and say it with meaning.