Ezekiel: A Sign Indeed
“On that day your mouth will be opened to the fugitive, and you shall speak and be no longer dumb. So you will be a sign to them; and they will know that I am the Lord”
~ God, in Ezekiel 24:27
Many of us are swift to quote Isaiah 8:18…”I and the children that the Lord has given to me are for signs and for wonders in Israel”. There are many things that we quote that we do not understand. Do we really understand what it means to be a sign? God used Isaiah’s family to send messages to Israel. The names of His children conveyed specific messages of God to them.
Remember Hosea? When God wanted to make him a sign, He told him to marry a prostitute. When she went back to her prostitution, God told him to re-marry her. He was instructed to give his children negative names. [See Hosea 1:2-8; 3:1-4].
Perhaps, the greatest “sign” we have is the Prophet Ezekiel. God told him to bind himself [3:25]; he was rendered dumb by the Lord[3:26&27]; he slept only on his left side for 390 days[4:4&5]; he could eat and drink only once a day for 390 days[4:9&10]; he used human dung to bake his bread[4:12]; the Lord killed his wife[24:15-18]
“On-top wetin?”
God was just using him to pass a message across to Israel.
Now, imagine that! What kind of God subjects a man to such “torture”? Isn’t that what you are asking?
You see, Ezekiel had gotten to that place where he no longer mattered to himself. It was from that position that Uncle Paul could say…”I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” [Gal. 2:20].
Functioning from that position, God could use Ezekiel for whatever He intended. When you take time to meditate on the revelations Ezekiel saw, boy, they are heavy stuff. And to think that in generations, only Ezekiel could function at that level is very instructive.
To what extent am I submitted to God? How far can God go in me? What is the speed limit I have set for the flow of God in me? To what extent is God free to express Himself in me?
These are questions I am asking myself, and perhaps you should ask yourself too.
I can only imagine how much pleasure Ezekiel’s submission brought to God. I can only imagine how much God could get done because this prophet made himself God’s “scapegoat”.
Ezekiel stands as a testimony to us all. Everytime we think of him, we must remember that it is possible to submit if we are willing to. Ezekiel didn’t even have the Holy Spirit in him, but you and I do. And unto us did Paul pen down these inspired words…”[Not in your own strength] for it is God who is all the while effectually at work in you[energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. [Phill. 2:13 AMP].
God is at work in us, we just need to surrender to His flow. Will you?
#LAFruits share by @kingdomturf