Ezekiel
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Ezekiel 2:1-10, Ezekiel 3:1-15, Ezekiel 12:1-20, Isaiah 55:6-7
BY Lore Ferguson Wilbert
Every time I fly and I hear the phrase, “Please make sure your oxygen mask is secure before helping anyone else,” I wonder how it would feel to be a parent, desperate to put a mask on their child to the detriment of their own life. But I see the temptation exists for us everywhere: to give before we’ve received, to pour out before we’ve been poured into. And worse, it’s a part of Christian culture to do so. We laud service and eschew Sabbath. We exalt work and neglect rest. We praise doers and overlooker hearers. We try to feed others before we’ve been fed ourselves. We are in a crisis of care in many spheres of life today. No matter our vocation, it can be tempting to pour out before we allow ourselves to truly be cared for, poured into, and ministered to by the Word of God.
This was the climate into which the prophet Ezekiel was speaking. In today’s passage, the Lord appears to Ezekiel and, essentially, says, “Eat my words and then go speak them to others” (Ezekiel 2:8, my paraphrase). God’s people were in exile, going about their duties, beginning and ending each day exactly the same, the monotony unending. Ezekiel’s vision was intended to interrupt their trance of sameness, to give them a picture and a promise of something better.
But Ezekiel would have been unable to rightly or compellingly convince anyone of anything better if he had not first eaten, chewed on, swallowed, and subsisted on the Word of God. He had to be fed before he could feed others. He had to put on the oxygen mask of God’s message before he could put it on others.
In the same way, the world is asking us to fill spaces, to show up, be something, be everything, speak something, say anything, do something, do everything, but we often feel like walking air-pockets, void of anything of substance inside us. Have you been there? I know I have. The Word of God is food for us, just as it was for Ezekiel. And our food is to do the will of God, just as it was for Jesus (John 4:34). We are called to breathe in what He has given us in His Word, and then to go and speak it to everyone we know.
25 thoughts on "Ezekiel"
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Such a good and clear message today- thank you for taking a slightly odd story to our ears and giving us a marvelous application!
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Why do I find it so difficult to listen before passing judgment? Lord, help me to be more curious about others, to ask clarifying questions, and be quick to seek understanding.
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This was so good! Always a needed reminder that caring for yourself is so often not selfish but a commandment and detrimental to your ability to care for those around you.
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As I read this devotional I am sitting with my infant daughter. It is a great reminder that before I can truly sustain her with my life giving milk, I have to make sure that I am taking care of myself by eating and staying hydrated. My sphere of influence may seem small right now, but I know that God cares about that one.
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It’s remarkable in favor of me to have a web site, which
is useful for my know-how. thanks admin -
“…speak to them and tell them. ‘Thus says the Lord God,’whether they hear, or whether they refuse.” Nkjv
This passage really jumps out at me, especially concerning the people in my house!Whether they listen or not now, keep speaking truth! -
Thank you Lord God for speaking through this SRT ministry to so many of us, including me. I have read this story about Ezekiel several times before but for some reason today’s reading opened my eyes to really see and understand what you are telling us, to be filled with your Word and sustenance and then go and do. I am a “doer” by nature and not one to stop and think before volunteering for something or delving into something. I too am guilty of spending too much time working and not enough time resting and replenishing the well. Thank you for showing me that I cannot serve others when I am empty myself. That’s why this time spent with you is so precious and provides strength and power for each day. Allelulia! Praise be to our God!!
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Wow, this message comes at such an appropriate time. I am currently going through a burn out phase at work, and have been hesitating to take time to take care of myself. I
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