Greetings in the name of our Master-God. He is the one in charge, and He often asks difficult things.
Ezekiel had to do hard things in order to share God's message. People didn't want to listen to him; in order to get their attention, God did some vivid (also awkward, inconvenient, uncomfortable, and painful) object lessons through Ezekiel. Even so, the people treated Ezekiel as a curiosity or as entertainment, rather than heeding his hardship-enabled messages.
For starters, Ezekiel was in exile already. He had to eat a scroll (3:1-3). He was shut up in his house for a time (3:24-25). He was mute except when God opened his mouth (3:26-27). He had to create a detailed display (4:1-3). He had to lie on his side publically every day for 430 days (4:4-6). He had to eat a survival diet of bread and water (4:9-11). He had to use animal dung as fuel (4:15). He had to cut off his hair and beard (5:1). He had to dig a tunnel to crawl through (8:8). A man fell dead at his prophecy (11:13). He had to dig another hole and leave the city at night (12:3-7). He had to continue a restricted diet (12:18). He had to publically show strong emotion of grief (21:6). His wife died suddenly, and he was not allowed to mourn (24:16-18). These are some of the hardships Ezekiel had to endure for the express purpose of illustrating God's message.
I recall a personal concentrated time of challenges. I had been teaching in a ministry I loved for six-and-a-half years. For the previous three years I had battled through debilitating illness and was finally starting to emerge from the worst of it. Unexpectedly and on very short notice, I was asked to leave that ministry due to concerns over my health. My appeal to stay was denied. I had to pack up and leave over Christmas break, driving all day on Christmas Eve to arrive at my parents' house, having been forcibly cut off from my students, my ministry, my income, my church, my pastor's wife's support, my familiar environment, my independence, my doctor. I faced the challenging prospect of living as a adult with my parents, with dynamics that sometimes seemed impossible to endure.
I thought I would be teaching again the next fall, but God closed multiple doors one after the other, several of which seemed like absolutely sure things. I ended up in that same setting for an additional year before God finally led me to the next step. In those twenty months, God impacted me with I Peter 5:6: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God." I learned that life is filled with the repeated necessity of submitting to the Almighty God, often each challenge a little harder.
I penned these words: "The mighty Creator has charge of my life;/ His wisdom determines each blessing and strife./ His love overarches and always surrounds./ His presence is with me; His mercy abounds.
"Humble under His mighty hand./ Humble in
this – the way He’s planned./ In everything I know His way is best./ I must
obey; I will submit and rest.
"The good and the bad both proceed from His
hand./ He knows what He does when I don’t understand./ In all of the big things
He works out His will;/ In each of the details my heart can be still."
God had purposes for that time, things He wanted me to do. But deeper than the book I wrote, the ministry to others, and the extended time with Him, was the necessity of growth. We tend to look for circumstances to confirm God's purpose through difficulty: a flat tire to avoid an accident, lost correspondence that prevents a bad decision, hospitalization in order to witness. God often does those situational things, because God is amazing, but they are not necessarily His chief goal in adversity. God wants to mature us (James 1:3-4) and conform us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28-29).
If we yield to God when it's hard, the humility and yielding are growth. We emerge from that trouble with greater peace, trust, and stability. We become softer, gentler, and more compassionate. We are better equipped to minister to people and less dependent on pleasant circumstances. We are more readily compliant to God's future plans. Our relationship with God deepens as we flourish under His enabling grace (I Peter 5:5). In other words, we grow in Christ-like maturity. The growth is so special that people frequently say they wouldn't trade the difficulty for anything.
Probably you also have talked about the hardest thing you've ever had to do, the most difficult decision, the heart-breaking desertion or betrayal, the biggest loss, the most painful attack, the incomparable loneliness/isolation, the unprecedented health struggles, the concerted opposition, or the unparalleled financial duress. (And within a short time, don't some of those get surpassed by something even harder?)
Whatever words describe our difficulty, we can't just pretend it wasn't that bad. It was that bad. The point is that we are willing to yield and humble ourselves before God even in that. We can't fully and meaningfully submit if we don't acknowledge the intensity.
Just because Ezekiel was a prophet or a man or because he lived a long time ago did not make his challenges easy for him. But time after time, even when his heart was breaking, he kept allowing God to do what He needed to do, and he kept following God's instructions. Ezekiel submitted to each difficult step, even though his message was not received by the people he was trying to reach.
If you've been through these times, you know what I'm talking about. As you face more of them in the future, I trust God's grace will enable you to submit and keep serving anyway. If you are currently in one of those times and want to share with me, I will pray especially for you.
"When peace like a river attendeth my way,/ When sorrows like sea billows roll;/ Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,/ It is well, it is well with my soul."
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
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