Focal passage: Ezekiel 3:8-21
I once knew a family whose daughter was prone to emotional outbursts. While these episodes were never physically violent, they were full of insults and slurs yelled at the top of her lungs. Not wanting to alienate her, the parents seldom chose to take the difficult but necessary steps to discipline their daughter.
Ironically, the mother was a well respected pediatrician who worked with troubled teens every week. She was able to give sound advice to her patients dealing with troublesome children but found it far more difficult to follow that same advice with her own daughter.
Ezekiel had the tough job of being a prophet to a stubborn and prideful people – the nation of Israel. The Lord said to Ezekiel, “But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate” (v. 7).
The Lord even says that it would have been easier for Ezekiel had He sent him to a foreign land because they would be more receptive than his own people.
Sometimes it’s those closest to us that we have the most difficulty facing. We find it easier to confront strangers than we do our own family, much like the doctor who couldn’t discipline her own kid.
When God called Ezekiel, He told him to go to the people he was most familiar with. “Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen” (v. 11).
It wasn’t Ezekiel’s job to make them listen. He was simply responsible for bringing the message of God to his people, regardless of what they might think, say or do.
If God has placed such a calling on your life – to bring a message of hope, comfort or conviction to those that know you best – don’t shy away because of what they might think. It’s your job to be faithful to the calling God has laid on your heart.
When we are faithful to God’s calling on our lives, we get to see Him show off in unimaginable ways.