Rewarded

Rewarded

Ezekiel 29:17 – On the first day of the first month of the twenty-seventh year of our captivity, a message came to me from the LORD, who had this to say: 18 – “Son of Man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army work very hard to attack Tyre. They tore their hair out and rubbed their shoulders raw! Despite all of that work trying to capture Tyre, neither he nor his army got paid from Tyre for all that! 19 – Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I’m going to give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He’s going to carry off her wealth, confiscate her war implements, and use it all to pay wages for his army! 20 – I’ve given him the land of Egypt as a reward for attacking Tyre for me,’ declares the Lord GOD. 21 – ‘When that day comes about I’ll strengthen Israel’s military might, and I will give you an audience in their midst. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

Does it seem today that an honest Christian life is attended with too many difficulties?  Does it feel like you’re a part of King Nebuchadnezzar’s army tearing out your hair and rubbing your shoulders raw with all the effort and not getting paid?  Are you giving your all, sacrificing everything, with no victory in sight?  God saw Nebuchadnezzar’s army.  He also saw Ezekiel’s captivity.  The whole world will be your audience when God fulfills His promises and gives out His gifts and His rewards.

Check out these promises:

1 Samuel 2:8 – He raises the poor up from the dust, he lifts up the needy from the trash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. Indeed the pillars of the earth belong to the LORD, and he has set the world on them.

Psalm 2:8 – Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession.

Isaiah 58:14 – then you will take delight in the LORD, and he will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; and he will make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob, your father. “Yes! The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Jeremiah 16:19-21 – LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of difficulty, to you the nations will come, and from the ends of the earth they’ll say, “Surely our ancestors inherited deception, things that are worthless, and in which there is no profit.” Can a person make a god for himself? They are not gods! Therefore, I’m about to make them understand; this time I’ll make them understand my power and strength, so they’ll understand that my name is the LORD.

Matthew 5:5 – “How blessed are those who are humble, because it is they who will inherit the earth!

Hebrews 11:36-40 – Still others endured taunts and floggings, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, sawed in half, and killed with swords. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins. They were needy, oppressed, and mistreated. The world wasn’t worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and form caves to holes in the ground. All these people won approval for their faith but they did not receive what was promised, since God had planned something better for us, so that they would not be perfected without us.

Let’s end our time today with the words from Revelation:

“See! I am coming soon! My reward is with me to repay everyone according to his behavior. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. “How blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city! – Revelation 22:12-14.