Calling it as He sees it….

I am making my way through Ezekiel and it has been a series of judgments the last few days….judgments against one nation after another….and at 6 AM, they kind of run together…

But then this morning, we broke out of all these nations and judgments that for someone like me, who struggles with names and geography, can get very confusing…I hit chapter 33.

And in it, I find passages that are already marked up from other readings this year.

In this chapter, I find the heart of God regarding wickedness.

He doesn’t like it.

And He does something about it.

He alerts people to it. And He calls them to point it out.

He commissioned Ezekiel to be a Watchman – someone who looks for people and places that are headed for destruction on a path of wickedness.

God says that if Ezekiel, or any watchman, sees the infiltration of the enemy, it is his (or her) responsibility to call it out. To sound the alarm. To give a warning.

There are people who are doing that in our day. They are mocked and laughed at and ignored. Just like Ezekiel was.

But God didn’t commission Ezekiel or any watchman to be popular, or loved or even liked. He said….if you see it, you sound the alarm….if others listen, they will be saved. If not, you have done what you are supposed to do.

We did a parenting class years ago called “Growing Kids God’s Way”. One of my take aways is:

You will stand before God one day, accountable for what you taught your children. They will stand before God accountable for what they did with it.

We can apply this to all people we come in contact with.

I can see the truth of Ezekiel in that.

I am responsible to speak the truth of God’s Word.

I am not responsible for what anyone else does with it.

I only have to answer for myself when He asks: Did you warn them?

And can I tell you that the great comfort in this is that God does not leave any watchman hanging out there with a self-righteous attitude of spouting-truth-and-you-can-take-it-or- leave-it-because-I-saved-my-own-skin-when-I-warned-you-and-now-the-ball’s- in-your- court.

No.

God reveals His heart….

“Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD GOD, ‘ I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'”         Ezekiel 33:11

It is not His desire to see the wicked perish, but to see them turn to Him.

And because He lives in me, this is my desire and the desire of all the watchmen.

When God shows us places where a warning needs to be sounded, we must pray for boldness, for grace, for humility and for courage to sound the alarm.

We must not let the reaction of others discourage us or weaken our faith.

Whatever the reaction, we love those people who are blindly stumbling into wickedness because God loves them and desires that their hearts are turned toward Him.

God did not call us to popularity.

He called us to obedience.

May God bless you with His eyes, His strength, His heart <3