May the mumbling commence!
Talk about an object lesson! God asks his prophets to do some bizarre
things. Just look at what the Lord asks
Ezekiel to do in chapter four. I’d call
it an abject object lesson. Read from
Ezekiel chapter four:
"Now lie on your left side and place the
sins of Israel on yourself. You are to bear their sins for the number of days
you lie there on your side. You will
bear Israel's sins for 390 days –
one day for each year of their sin.
After that, turn over and lie on your right side for 40 days – one day for each year of
Judah's sin.
Meanwhile, continue your demonstration of the siege of
Jerusalem. Lie there with your arm bared and prophesy her destruction. I will tie you up with ropes so you won't be
able to turn from side to side until the days of your siege have been
completed.
Now go and get some
wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and mix them together in a
storage jar. Use this food to make bread for yourself during the 390 days you
will be lying on your side. Ration this out to yourself, eight ounces
of food for each day, and eat it at set times.
Then measure out a jar of water for each day, and drink it at set times. Each day prepare your bread as you would
barley cakes. While all the people are watching, bake it over a fire using dried human dung as fuel and then eat the
bread. For this is what the Lord says: Israel will eat defiled bread in the Gentile lands, where I will banish
them!"
Then I said, "O Sovereign Lord,
must I be defiled by using human dung? For I
have never been defiled before. From the time I was a child until now I
have never eaten any animal that
died of sickness or that I found dead. And I have never eaten any of the animals that
our laws forbid."
"All
right," the Lord said. "You may bake your bread with cow dung instead of human dung." Then he told me, "Son of man, I will cause food to be very scarce in Jerusalem. It will be weighed
out with great care and eaten fearfully. The water will be portioned out drop
by drop, and the people will drink it with dismay. Food and water will be so scarce that the
people will look at one another in terror, and they will waste away under their
punishment.” (Verses 4-17)
I don’t know about you, but I cannot even sleep
still. I move around. If I were not to move during my sleep, I
would either need to be tied down or I would need to have intense pain whenever
I tried to move.
Keeping still for a long time can be traumatic to the
human body. Ask anyone who ever had a
bed sore. Just think about lying in one
position for 390 days. That’s more than
a year! Talk about suffering for God to
bring the Message to the people!
And I’ve seen a lot of fad diets out there, but just try
surviving on the food rationing that Ezekiel was given. Eight ounces of bread per day! That’s hardly enough for one meal, let alone
three.
It’s no wonder that there is fear
and dismay among God’s people. So it
will be if we refuse to walk in God’s Way – the Way of Jesus, the Way of
obedience at all times and in all ways.
Read from Matthew chapter twenty-six:
Then Jesus brought them to an olive grove called
Gethsemane, and he said, "Sit here while I go on ahead to pray." He took Peter and Zebedee's two sons, James
and John, and he began to be filled with anguish and deep distress. He told them, "My
soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and watch with
me."
He went on a little farther and fell face down on the
ground, praying, "My
Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering
be taken away from me. Yet I want your
will, not mine."
Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to
Peter, "Couldn't
you stay awake and watch with me even one hour?
Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough,
the body is weak!" (Verses 36-41)
Though the Way of God sometimes causes grief for a time,
it’s the Way of God that is the Way of our eternal salvation. Indeed, even today, as we follow God’s Way,
we will be asked at times to do some abject object lessons for the people
around us. May we be ready to do so!
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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