February 4, 2022

Ezekiel 3: 15 (NIV)

I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Abib near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days – overwhelmed.

You will never be able to do your best work, unless you can sit where the people sit.*

Ezekiel’s ministry was to the Jews in exile in Babylon. He was a priest, called by God to deliver prophetic messages in often bizarre and dramatic fashion. In the instance described in this verse, Ezekiel seems to have randomly stumbled over a band of refugees who had established residence along the banks of a river.  Because his presence there wasn’t as random as it seems, he waited among them for seven days until the Lord spoke to him about his mission.

There is a great deal of speculation about why Ezekiel had to hang out there for a whole week before moving on to the next phase. It could have been due to the customs of that time and place. (Job’s friends sat with him for seven days before anyone spoke.) I tend to believe Ezekiel just needed the time to absorb the conditions of his congregation. Whatever his emotional response to what he saw there, he waited for God to reveal his next move. As Ezekiel’s story unfolds, we see that his message was not well-received.

We must be careful not to read unintended meanings into a passage of scripture but I think we are safe in drawing some conclusions from this one:

1. Sometimes we are called to a ministry of waiting. God’s timing is perfect but we are impatient. 

2. Sometimes we are called to a ministry of empathy. We can’t feel someone’s pain if we’ve never felt his pain! Jesus showed the way by “sitting among us” and “feeling our struggles in a fallen world.”* 

3. Sometimes, though commissioned by God, we are doomed to fail. Like Ezekiel, we may be called to deliver an unpopular message.

Wait for God. Turn your struggles into an instrument of blessing for others. Perform your ministry regardless of its potential for success. God knows what he’s doing.

We must never put our dreams of success as God’s purpose for us . . . It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.*