Ammonite Attitude

Daily Reading: Ezekiel 25

For thus says the Lord God: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the malice within your soul against the land of Israel, therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand against you. (Ezekiel 25.6-7)

Devotional Thought: Does this sound familiar?  As you're driving down the interstate you pull out into the left lane to pass another car.  Out of nowhere, a huge Lincoln Navigator passes you on the right, cuts you off, and zooms around the car you were passing.  You think to yourself, "I hope that guys get caught!"  After going a few more miles you see flashing blue lights on the side of the road.  Could it be?  Yes!  A Lincoln Navigator in front of the cruiser!  He did get caught!  Smiling, you say to yourself, "Serves him right!"  Not the best attitude, but you console yourself with the thought that he was endangering others and needed to be stopped.

When Israel went into captivity, the Ammonites smiled and said, "Serves them right!"  Israel was, after all, being disciplined for their rebellion against God, and they really did need to be stopped.  But God saw something else in the Ammonites.  He saw jealousy, revenge, and hatred.  He saw the Ammonite Attitude.  Yes, God was still going to punish Israel, but the Ammonites were going to get a little discipline of their own.

Our nation is deeply divided today.  The left and the right seem totally incapable of coming together or even of calling a truce.  A vivid example of this hostility was seen in the fact that many leftists gleefully rejoiced over the recent death of a popular conservative radio host.  Frankly, I was appalled at the attitude, but then I quickly remembered that some hateful things were said when a liberal supreme court justice died. 

Whether in politics, on social media, or on the highway, the Ammonite Attitude is pervasive.  May we, as followers of Jesus, have a mindset of love and forgiveness, adopting the Savior's Stance!

Prayer: Lord, forgive me when I have an Ammonite Attitude.  Help me, instead, to love my enemies and to pray for those who persecute me.  In short, help me to take the Savior's Stance.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 42.1-7

1  As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 

3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God? ”

4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation

6 and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.