Ezekiel 3

"Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, "You shall surely die," and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.'" Ezekiel 3:15-19 (NKJV)

They say everyone wants to be their own boss until they open their own small business! The same seems to be true of followers of God. We want to obey Him until He tells us to do something that makes us feel uncomfortable. Ezekiel knew what that felt like. In response to God's call on his life, Ezekiel nursed his anger for seven days.

And what was God's call on Ezekiel's life? To be the channel through which God's Word comes to a rebellious people. The expression, "the word of the Lord came to me," occurs fifty times in the book of Ezekiel. By this, we know that it is important to God that people walk with Him personally through His Word. As a matter of fact, Jesus was the personification of the Word of the Lord. (John 1) In essence, having a saving relationship with Jesus is a saving relationship with the Word-made flesh.  

Why so few professing followers of Jesus read the Bible is beyond me! If God's Word is so important, perhaps the question for our generation should be, "How intently do we seek the Word of the Lord?"  

There comes a time when we must stop thinking about how we feel and get on with doing what God wants us to do. God wanted Ezekiel to become a watchman. The duties of a watchman included standing on the city's ramparts, watching for the coming of invaders, and quickly blowing a trumpet to warn the entire city of the onset of danger. Ezekiel's commission contained a sign of God's continued favor for His covenant people. No matter how great their sin, He would not abandon them entirely. Even in Babylonian exile, God gave Israel a "town crier" to warn them of dangers and summon them to action.

As "watchman," Ezekiel's task lay in two directions: to the "wicked" and the "righteous." Under the ministry of the prophets, the people were called to true repentance and to return to God. The call to repentance focused on God's covenant with them. But the deeper message of Ezekiel's calling was not simply to return people to the covenant of God but to return them to the God of the covenant.

These daily devotionals exist primarily to return believers to an ongoing personal relationship with God through His Word. The hope is that people would discover what it means to really KNOW Him and that they would share Him with others.