Dry Spells

Ez 37: 5This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.
Ez 36: 27And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Although active in church and ministry, lately I've missed my daily devotions (or rant, depending) for various reasons.  I confess that regardless of intent, the result is a spiritual "dryness" that can only be satisfied through the nourishment of scripture.  So today I read Ezekiel 36-37 just to have scripture breath fresh life into my dry bones. 

I've been sorely tempted to fire off rants regarding new laws passed in North Carolina, Mississippi, and other states applauding their protections and chiding others for misrepresenting these laws as discriminatory.  I view these laws as protection for individual freedoms of small business and personal privacy, but I realize others see at differently.  Yet for whatever reason, God seemed to squelch the opportunity or the desire to do so. 

So I read Ezekiel and was reminded by chapter 36 that when God's spirit is within us, we are compelled to obey His laws.  The sad truth is that many who are debating these new human laws are venting their opinions without reference to or apparent knowledge of God's laws.  So today, rather than rant, I am simply mindful that as Christians we are filled with God's spirit and compelled by that Spirit to obey God.  If we argue over God's laws, then at least one of us isn't listening.  God gave us scripture so that the Spirit might illumine it, magnify it, and see it come to life within us through our actions and attitudes.  Failure to study scripture risks misunderstanding and misrepresenting the Author.  May I not be guilty of worshipping a false god or misrepresenting Him by ignorance of Him because I'm too lazy or self-centered to study His Word.