Perhaps like me you struggle to read and understand this book of Ezekiel. Perhaps you have been frustrated by it and found it largely inapplicable
to your life. You are right it is
a tough book. Here are a couple things
that might be helpful. First look
for repetitive words and phrases.
This helps you catch the main points. There are two things that really have caught my
attention.
Rebellious Hearts: Over and over again God refers to his people as rebellious.
Chapter 2 v.7 says, “And you shall speak my words to them, whether they
hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.” These are a people that show with their
actions a resistance to God. They are
living in opposition to God’s commands.
They are continuing to slap God in the face with their actions. These chapters say again and again that
the people “have not walked in [God’s] statutes or obeyed [His] rules” (ch. 5
v.7). God will not continue to put
up with their disobedience. He
will not continue to be slapped in the face. We cannot say we love him and desire him and then on the
other hand continue to ignore the sins of our lives and just keep doing
them. This is why the author of
Hebrews (ch.3 v.12) says “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an
evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” This section of Ezekiel is a call to
repentance. Ezekiel 3:21 says “But
if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall
surely live, because he took warning.”
Now it is impossible for us to not sin, but what this verse is calling
us away from is a life of unrepentant sin. A life that continues in sin and will not seek to turn away
from the sin it finds itself entangled in. The point is, are you fighting and battling the sin in your
life or are you giving in to it?
Surrender your life to Jesus Christ, do not surrender it to sin.
Know the LORD: Any time in the Old Testament you see capital letters "LORD" that means the word in Hebrew is Yahweh, which means "I am who I am". So when in Ezekiel we see the same phrase repeated over and over we know that God means for us to get this point. Repeatedly we see "Then you will know that I am the LORD." Why is God punishing these rebellious people, why does God discipline us? Because God wants us to recognize Him as LORD: Lord over creation, Lord over humanity, Lord over our lives. Is God trying to get your attention? I'm reminded today that He is LORD and that as one of His created beings I was made to worship, love, honor, and delight in Him.
