What will God ask us to do?
I’ve read the bible through on more than one occasion, so I know I’ve read the book of Ezekiel before. But deed… I don’t remember chapter 4. Perhaps I’ve blocked it out. I do have a pretty queasy stomach and when I tell you this made me queasy, woah baby…. What God instructed Ezekiel to do is beyond what I want God to require of me.
Yesterday as I read chapters 1-3, I became painfully aware of the cost of the call of God, and more aptly the cost of not following through on what God has called you to do.
Ezekiel 3:18-19 KJV
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. [19] Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
The blood of the unwarned was required at the prophets hand. Now…I’m not a prophet. But I am called by God to serve, and if God has called me to warn specific people and I don’t, I have no doubt that I will stand before God and have to answer for that. How? I don’t know. But I know that although I will not be judged for sin, I will be judged for service. 2 Corinthians 5:10 KJV – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Okay, so now let’s get to the eleven verses in Ezekiel 4 and the very, very, strange and yucky request made of Ezekiel by God.
Ezekiel 4:5-15 KJV
For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. [6] And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. [7] Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it. [8] And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege. [9] Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof. [10] And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. [11] Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. [12] And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight. [13] And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them. [14] Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. [15] Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
As I understand it, this is prophecy of what was (and did) come to the Northern and the Southern parts of Israel. When God instructs Ezekiel to lay on his left side, he is facing north. Therefore the 390 days for which he is instructed to lie down facing North is prophetic of the 390 years of captivity of the Northern Kingdom. The 40 days is prophetic of the 40 years of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. If I am wrong, please someone correct me. Because Ezekiel has other assignments during these days of laying on his side, it is assumed that he laid on his side for a period of the day… not 24 hours a day. Now, if that’s not a strange enough request the next part get’s even stranger and pretty grotesque.
God tells Ezekiel what he’s going to eat and drink for this period of 390 days and 40 days, 430 all together. He’ll eat a combination of grains in a poor mans diet. Not what the wealthy would eat. And certainly not what I would want to eat. But that’s not gross. He’ll also drink about a pint and a half of water a day. Not much. A total of eight ounces of food and water enough to survive. Still not gross. But Ezekiel is told that he is to cook this bread over human dung. That’s people poop!!!
Now the Jewish people were a very clean bunch, and this notion would have reviled them beyond belief, but God wanted them to understand just what he thought of their behaviors. Ezekiel, being a priest, didn’t protest against anything God asked… until this point. And then he pleaded with God not to make him do use people poop for the fuel in his cooking fire, and God obliged by allowing him to swap human poop for cow poop. Oh… that’s better, right? Not by far, but enough for Ezekiel to obey.
This reminded me of my youth ministry teaching when I would use the Skit Guys video on the poop brownies. A hysterical skit between a dad and son about allowing just a little bit of sin in your life, because a little won’t hurt… just like a little bit of dog poop in your brownies, shouldn’t matter either!
Well, God’s message to Israel was that he was tired of their crappy behavior. I’d reckon that He pretty much feels the same today with the United States of America. Yesterday I published a story on Ridgeview News of an incident of child abuse that had occurred in Calhoun County. The couple was arrested and will now face judgement, but the damage to those children can’t be undone. It can be dealt with, and hopefully healed. In Ezekiel’s day, generation after generation had walked down the path of wickedness and away from God. They had sacrificed their children in the fire, turned the house of God into a house of whoredom and mocked God at every turn. Many of the priests refused to call sin out and the children who survived became a more and more wicked generation.
I praise God for my godly parents. I praise Him for the families I witness raising their children as best they can in a godly way, while living in this fallen world. But I go back to the poop brownies. So long as our children are exposed to the sins of the world, it’s going to be in them and on them unless they come to know Jesus Christ as Lord. But how can they know Him as Lord if they’re never introduced?
If you are a parent or grandparent, or anyone else, raising children, I pray, pray, pray that you will begin a regimen of church. This weekend we’re supposed to get a foot of snow… that’s probably going to count church out for the majority of us. But it can’t stop you from having a conversation with the children about Jesus! Oh what an awesome friend to introduce them too. Someone who will never, ever let them down. Someone that can care for them when you’re not around and comfort their broken hearts when you don’t even know they have one.
Glory I just wrote myself happy!
I pray for my kids and grandkids. Today I’m praying for your’s too. And You!!!!! Love you for real. – Shari, The Jesus Chick.
