May the mumbling commence!
The Lord sets us up with a new definition of
success. Most people like to succeed in
what they do. Some people would look at
the words of the Lord to Ezekiel and feel that God is setting up Ezekiel to be
a failure.
Not so! Success
is doing what God calls us to do.
Whether it works or not is dependent upon the will of the Lord and the
free will of the people we are called to address. Read from Ezekiel chapter three:
The voice said to me, "Son of man, eat what I am giving you – eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of
Israel." So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. "Eat it
all," he said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey.
Then he said, "Son of man, go to the people of Israel with my
messages. I am not sending you to some foreign
people whose language you cannot understand. No, I am not sending you to people with
strange and difficult speech. If I did,
they would listen! I am sending you
to the people of Israel, but they won't listen to you any more than they
listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn. But look, I have made you as hard and stubborn as they are. I have made you as hard as rock! So don't be
afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are such rebels."
Then he added, "Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own
heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. Then go to your people in exile and say to
them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord
says!' Do this whether they listen to you or not."
(Verses 1-11)
The Word of the Lord is sweet to the taste. And all we need to do is open our
mouths. God will feed us like an
infant. You know, open up the tunnel and
let the train go through.
Yes, the Word of the Lord is sweet to the taste. But the message becomes bitter in our
stomachs. God sends us on a mission that
will likely fail in our eyes.
Yet we need to be faithful and deliver the message to
the people. Deliver the message even
before anger and ridicule. Deliver the
message even when people stop up their ears.
But before we can accurately deliver the message of the
Lord, we need to listen to it carefully.
Eat it. Process it. Make it a part of our very being – just like
the food that we eat.
Eat God’s Word.
Process it. Make it a part of
your very essence. Eat it slowly and
savor the sweet taste before it turns sour in your stomach.
Eat God’s Word to discover if what you are doing is
indeed the will of the Lord. Sometimes
we do not realize one way or the other.
Read from the parable of the sheep and goats from Matthew chapter
twenty-five:
"Then these righteous ones will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and
feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or
naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in
prison, and visit you?'
And the King will tell them, 'I assure
you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,
you were doing it to me!' (Verses 37-40)
"Then they will reply, 'Lord, when
did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in
prison, and not help you?'
And he will answer, 'I assure you, when
you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were
refusing to help me.' (Verses 44-45)
Open our eyes, O Lord, that we may see what true success
looks like for the child of God.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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