Midweek: God Equips Ezekiel

Last Wednesday, we looked at Ezekiel, the man, and his calling. This week we're going to dig a little more deeply into those things as we look at the third chapter of the book of the Bible that bears his name.

Ezekiel 3:1-3:

Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.

And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.

Strange, right? For sure, but Ezekiel's consumption of a scroll signified his acceptance of God's message which he was given to deliver. I'm sure he didn't want to see Jerusalem and God's temple destroyed; I'm sure he didn't want to see God's people spread all over the globe and in chaos any more than God Himself did, but Ezekiel trusted that God's actions were true and appropriate. This made his consumption of the scroll filled with God's message sweet to the taste. Have you ever been tasked with giving someone a word of correction? Not a pleasant task. But knowing it is from God and praying it is received and followed makes the assignment a bit more palatable.

The point of such an odd lunch doesn't end there. By Ezekiel's eating of the scroll, it symbolized he had internalized the message to Israel. He took the words of God unto himself, making them a part of his substance, his essence; he made them a part of who he is. Those words were his sustenance, to strengthen him as he walked in obedience to God, and those words were known to him so well, he could speak them in his sleep. If someone had approached him and questioned the message, he could clearly expound its every detail and the reasons for it. Is the same true of our familiarity with the Scriptures today? Is it our sustenance, our daily bread? Do we know the Scriptures so well we can teach others as Philip taught the Ethiopian? Can we concisely give the reason for the hope that is in us and encourage others to place their trust in Him as well? 

Back to Ezekiel. Ezekiel had been sent to his own people, people who spoke as he spoke; but they were impudent and hard-hearted. Now, there's really no backstory on Ezekiel. There's no record of him killing an Egyptian or dismembering a lion with his bare hands. We know from his own writing, he was the son of a priest, and we will see later, he was faithful in keeping God's dietary laws. I think it's pretty safe to say he was an ordinary guy and not necessarily inclined to confronting folks. So, when God called him to speak to an impudent and hard-hearted people, I can imagine he had reservations. But God told him:

I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. ~ Ezekiel 3:8, 9

The Complete Jewish Bible renders this:

I am making you as defiant and obstinate as they are. Yes, I am making your resoluteness harder than flint, as hard as a diamond.

Ezekiel needed to be toughened up a bit. Was he a people pleaser? a coward? an introvert? Whatever his personality, whatever his upbringing, God was not intimidated or dissuaded by those things. Ezekiel, standing among the other captives, fell on his face when he saw the vision of God's glory; he didn't wait until he was in private, he didn't stop to consider what others thought (and, I'm assuming, he was the only one hearing or seeing anything. Imagine that!). It was instantaneous; he fell to his face! That type of humility, that innate, spontaneous reaction to the things of God qualifies each one called by God. Whatever your personality, whatever your background, the equipping comes through the One who knows exactly what is needed when it is needed. He is the Master at Equipping the Called as the called surrender. As we faithfully read His word and think on it day after day, as we (I'm using the word "attempt" here, since our society tends to make the memorization of anything redundant) attempt to memorize Scripture, as we listen to solid teaching, as we ingest it metaphorically, we are equipped. As we pray, worship, and submit to His will, the Holy Spirit transforms us, growing in us the qualities necessary to work for the glory of our King. We can wake up each day knowing we are not where we were yesterday and God is ever-increasing and honing our qualifications. 

  

Not Every Great Guy Does Well

He was a great guy! 

The world is full of great guys. They're usually found hanging out (or lying about) in funeral parlors or cemeteries. Wouldn't we all like to know that, when we're gone, we are fondly remembered; that we made a positive difference in another's life? Of course, we would. But is that our goal, or are we striving to hear the words, Well done, good and faithful servant, when we arrive before the King of Heaven's throne? Those two things may not be mutually exclusive every time, but on occasion, they just might be.

In Jeremiah 40:7-16, we are told of a man named Gedaliah. Most of the people of Judah had been carried off by the Chaldeans to live in Babylon, far away from their holy city of Jerusalem and God's temple. 

Short version: They'd rejected God and His standards for proper worship, why did they care if His city and His temple were taken from them? But they did, and they were sad.

However, God (via the Chaldeans) allowed some people to remain in Jerusalem, and the Babylonian king appointed a governor from among Israel, Gedaliah. Gedaliah concurred with all God (through Jeremiah) had spoken regarding this remnant. He told the people:

Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken. (vv. 9, 10)

And the people listened! In fact, some who had originally fled, returned to Jerusalem and began to live their lives. Things appeared to be going pretty well, BUT there was a fly (or several flies) in the ointment. For whatever reason, a man named Ishmael and some of his powerful friends hatched a plot to get rid of Gedaliah.

Now, Gedaliah had a friend or two as well, and several of them attempted to warn him of the conspiracy. Gedaliah refused to believe it. Johanan, one of the governor's allies, even took him aside privately and offered to do away with Ishmael, pleading with him on behalf of the people in his care. If you're dead, what will happen to them? (paraphrase mine) But, again, Gedaliah refused to listen. Jeremiah 41, delivers the answer: Gedaliah was murdered and many of those under him taken captive or murdered as well.

From all appearances, Gedaliah was a great guy. He sided with Jeremiah, God's prophet. He encouraged the people and obeyed authority. No one would risk life and limb to expose an assassination plot --even offering to murder the perpetrator --for a terrible guy. But Gedaliah had a problem: he refused to believe the worst of Ishmael, and his lack of discernment became the problem of everyone under his governance. Was it pride? No one could possibly want to off me! Look at the great job I'm doing! Was it naiveté? We have such an intimate group remaining in Jerusalem; I know each one personally. They're such hard workers and kind people. None would ever betray another. Was it myopia? Did he trust the words of hope delivered by Jeremiah without actually trusting the God who authored them, putting his faith in the promise rather than the Promise Keeper? And that's where I'm going to pause.

I've spoken before of Dorothy Sayers' take on the old saying, The road to hell is paved with good intentions. If you've missed it, she says we often assume that refers to undertakings intended but never completed; but she believes it applies to those things we conceive and work diligently toward which then become an end unto itself. We start out wanting to help or speak truth or think the best of others --to be a great guy!, but our efforts become our life's blood, the thing that keeps us in the race no matter how many times God has told us to rest. We ignore His cautions to stop because this is our work, and not His. The work has discarded the very goal (or people) it was meant to serve, and we have lost sight of the forest for the trees.

Prayer is our weapon against spiritual myopia. Especially those of us engaged in leadership, service, teaching, evangelism, parenting --okay, for every believer. It is the way we confess before God our deepest fears, our greatest weaknesses --not that He is unaware, but that we have become aware of our needs and the only One who can meet them. Whatever you undertake today, the simplest bits of life, commit them to the Lord in prayer and seek His leadership in them. You may not be one of those great guys, but you will have done well.

Shhh! I Can't Hear You!

As time goes on, my husband and I are discovering the depths of "for better or for worse." We've done the richer-poorer thing, the sickness-health hurdles, but the better-worse challenge seems to be a bit different. The better-worse seems to come from within and seems to be grounded in the changes that occur in each of us as we grow older. For instance, as I age, I have grown even fonder of embracing the silence. I don't like loud noises. I'd rather do a crossword puzzle than watch TV. I like to read as Scott drives. And talking is more of an effort for me. Scott, however, has grown more talkative with age. His diminishing ability to hear means he speaks more loudly and requires me to repeat myself --often. He drives with the radio and likes to point out things along the way. And when he finds something on television we can both enjoy, he likes to talk over it. Sometimes I wonder when this will get better. Sometimes I pray it can't get any worse.

In 2 Kings 18, we find Hezekiah on the throne of Israel. Six years into his reign, the king of Assyria carried off the people of the northern kingdom of Israel and took their land. In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib, king of Assyria came to make a play for the rest of God's people, in Judah; he took possession of all of the fortified cities there. Hezekiah kowtowed, giving Sennacherib a large ransom, but it wasn't enough. Not long after, Sennacherib sent his officials to harangue Hezekiah for refusing further payment, for discussing with Egypt the possibility of an alliance, and for declaring his trust in God. This throng arrived, positioned themselves by the aqueduct in Judah, and began trash-talking. In Hebrew. So as to stir up the people. But the citizens did not become agitated or fearful; they did not try to pressure Hezekiah into surrendering to Sennacherib's demands. In fact, verse 36 tells us, the people remained loyal to their king, doing as he commanded:

But the people held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him. 

He'd given them an order, and they obeyed. Silently.    

Someone once said, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." James, the brother of Jesus, devoted almost an entire chapter on the perils of a loose or wicked tongue. Movie theaters proclaim, Silence is golden. And Eve, confronted by the serpent's perversion of Scripture, responded with a perversion of her own. Would she not have been better served by keeping silent? Was there not something within her which perceived the serpent's guile and caused her to overstep, to add to what God had said as a means of shutting down the creature's overly critical accusation? Curt Thompson, in his book, The Soul of Shame, suggests the serpent's ultimate purpose was to disrupt the relationship between Creator and creation by creating doubt. Did God really say...? Eve hastily, boldly speaks so as to squelch the doubt that has crept into her own mind.

The people under Hezekiah's reign did not --Praise God! --doubt the ability of their king. And their king (at least, at this juncture) did not doubt the ability of his God. It may have seemed right to silence the dissenting voices of an enemy, to shout them down and tell them how wrong they were. But the people kept silent. 

Scripture exhorts us to speak, particularly when it comes to sharing the good news of salvation. But obedience to God's timing matters. Ecclesiastes 3:7 says there is a time to keep silence and a time to speak. It's important we are prepared to do both as God requires of us. To say it confidently, to say it truthfully, and to say it sweetly --even when we're called to repeat it again. 

      

Midweek: Ezekiel Fell on His Face

Recently, my husband read the book of Ezekiel for the first time. He described it as "intense." I thought that was a really nice way of putting it. It's been a minute since I've read the entire book, but my mind, like most people's, tends to go to end times, gem-encrusted wheels, acid trip sort of stuff. As I've previously mentioned (and recommended), I use Jennifer Lane's HIStory in 366 Days for my daily quiet time. The scheduled reading has taken me to the book of Ezekiel, and I've begun thinking more about the man.

When Ezekiel first writes of his experience, being called by God to prophesy to the exiles in Babylon, he introduces himself as an ordinary man given a vision of heavenly things: 

And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. ~ Ezekiel 1:26-28

His response was to fall on his face in the fear of the Lord, humility, worship. Hallmarks of a bondservant to the Lord, hallmarks which I often feel are not as thoroughly exhibited in my life as I'd like them to be. I ask myself, Do I fear God enough? properly? I don't mean something I summon up, but have I taken the time today to focus on just how worthy of my reverence He is? Do I fully comprehend His magnitude, His glory, His holiness? And have I responded accordingly to His character? The answer is No, and it will remain that until I am fully sanctified; only then will I be able to fear Him in perfect humility and worship Him in absolute truth.

But here was Ezekiel, on his face before God. And God tells him to stand (2:1). Just go back to Adam and Eve for a minute. They'd sinned, disobeyed God's command not to eat of the tree in the center of the garden. It just so happened 😉the tree was The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked (Genesis 3:7). What did they do? They immediately sought to cover themselves. They immediately felt vulnerable, exposed. When we fall on our faces before the Lord, the very act of it covers our most susceptible places, the private areas we normally cover and our hearts. We instinctively try to modulate our vulnerability, hide our weaknesses. But God spoke to Ezekiel: Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you. Stand! To stand before a holy, perfect, almighty God with one's most secret places exposed... Take a minute to think about that. Your most deeply hidden thoughts laid bare. The truth of your heart --those days you don't want to pray or sing or even smile, the bitterness toward God for taking your child, jealousy, doubt, lust, all of it --boldly positioned, eye-to-eye before the God who is a consuming fire. Could you stand? I can't imagine that any of us could. We'd ball ourselves up so tightly, weeping and crying out for God's mercy. Don't look! But for the blood of Jesus Christ! 

It is the Holy Spirit who stands Ezekiel on his feet and God begins to reveal the plans He has for this man, plans to face a hardened and rebellious people. 

And that's where we'll stop for today. I'll leave you with some time to think about this man. Forget for a moment the visions and object lessons that were a part of his commission, and focus on the man. A man out minding his business by the river, remaining faithful to his Lord while being exiled far from home; a man whom God would use in some very unconventional and grievous ways to deliver a message to a people who refused to listen, but God longed to save.   

More on Ezekiel next Wednesday!