Day 157 – Ezekiel: Introduction

“For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” Ezekiel 36:24-26 NLT

A computer can be programmed to respond at your command, but people have wills and must choose whether to submit to the instructions of those who have authority over them. Surely discipline is part of the process – children should know that they will be rewarded or praised for obedience and suffer the consequences for disobedience.

God’s children must learn to obey their heavenly Father. Created in His image, they have a choice, and he allows them to make it for themselves.

Ezekiel was a man who chose to obey God. Although he was a priest, he served as a Jewish “street preacher” in Babylon for 22 years, telling everyone about God’s judgment and salvation and calling them to repent and obey. And Ezekiel lived what he preached. During his ministry, God told him to illustrate his messages with dramatic object lessons. These acts included lying on his side for 390 days, during which he could eat only one eight-ounce meal a day cooked over manure; shaving his head and beard; and showing no sorrow when his wife died. He obeyed and faithfully proclaimed God’s word.

God may not ask you to do anything quite so dramatic or difficult. But if he did, would you do it?

Prayer: Father, I know that the book of Ezekiel is sometimes difficult to understand with the descriptions of the prophecies and heavenly visions You gave him. I ask, Lord, that You reveal Your truth and love through the scriptures of this prophet. Amen.