Over the next several weeks, days, mon…oh who knows, I’ll be sharing with you my personal journey into the book of Ezekiel. Now some of you might be thinking, “you’ve got to be kidding me that’s Old Testament stuff and very boring.” Actually Ezekiel’s life was anything but boring. And yes it’s Old Testament stuff, but it’s ’stuff’ that’s very relevant to you and I today.
This will be a very personal journey. It will be personal because I intend to be open about my own faith, my own struggles in trying to understand what God is teaching me, and maybe even some of my own doubts. OH NO!! Did I say doubts. Absolutely! Let’s faceit we all struggle with doubts and if someone tells you; “my faith is so strong I never doubt” then run because they have either clearly lost their mind and have started to believe their own lies or they are too proud to admit they have doubts. Did you know the disciples had doubts. Here let me show you; “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” (Matthew 28:16-17) Just as Jesus was about to deliver The Great Commission, his final instructions before surfing a cloud into heaven where he would sit with our heavenly Daddy, His own disciples had doubts.
Why Ezekiel? To be honest…my only answer is the Holy Spirit’s leading and isn’t that enough? But here is something that is really rattling my mind. In about four months I’ll be spending a lot of time, and I mean a lot of time at The Christian Retreat Center as their speaker for their Teen Week as well as T.I.M.S. weeks (Teens in Missionary Service) and the theme for the summer is “Extreme Faith” taken from the life of Daniel. With that in mind I have been reading through the first six chapters of Daniel up until this week. Shouldn’t I be continuing my reading and study of Daniel so I’m prepared for the summer? Okay…so why I am being drawn to Ezekiel and what does he have to do with Daniel? Uuuummm, maybe I just need to have “extreme faith” and see where all this is leading. As I sit here writing out these words I am thinking about what Greg Stier wrote today on his blog about “The Message.” He said;
Although I love it, I sometimes cringe when I read it’s words.
His words deliver a shot to my liver with the steely edge of it’s double edged sword.
It cuts me to the bone, to the heart, to the quick of my slow soul.
But he wounds me out of love.
Reading Ezekiel is already cutting to my bone, but I’m looking forward to the wounds because it is done out of love. Will you join me?
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