Altar of Fire: Deep Union With God - A Devotional on Ezekiel by Randall Deeb (Formerly "Oracles of Ezekiel" RENAMED) - Digital + Print Copy

We tend to avoid the parts of the Bible and the aspects of God that are hard to swallow. But to embrace God only in part is not to embrace him at all. To embrace God, we must embrace him whole. The book of Ezekiel invites us to contemplate the terror of God, because only in doing so do we discover the depth of his beauty. We find his love hidden in his wrath, his salvation hidden in his judgment, and his rest hidden in his burden.

Here is a sample entry from the attached Ezekiel devotionals:

When we enter deep into the Father’s heart, we are invited into all of him—to embrace him whole. It is not a light thing when God reveals his nature to us. We know him has Jehovah Jireh (“The LORD who Provides”), Jehovah Rophe (“The LORD who Heals”), and so on. And so we have one such revelation here, as surely as the others: “Jehovah Nakeh:” The LORD who Strikes.

God has taught me to fall in love with this aspect of him—his judgments, even his wrath. How? Because he loves me, he hates what destroys me (v.19). Was it not in his “strike” that killed the old Adam in us to make us new? Will it not be his “strike” that purges the world of evil to renew creation? Hence the prophet’s repeated cry: “An End... The Day has come!” To trained ears, this is good news. It means the end of evil. An “end” means a new beginning. “The End” and “The Day” speak of Sabbath—the end of the creation week, the seventh day, the Holy Day. So we enter deeper into the Father’s heart: Embrace his judgment, and find his Sabbath rest.