SCRIPTURE: Ezekiel 3
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’ Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people. [Ezekiel 3:27]
Though the scroll (symbol of God’s message) tastes sweet as honey, it does leave a foul taste in the mouth – the bitterness of the peoples’ stubborn refusal to listen.
If you’ve ever tried to warn someone about a dangerous path that they are on, and they refuse to listen, you know that bitter taste too.
I do not enjoy being a ‘watchman’, but God makes it clear that silence is not an option either; if I say nothing, others will suffer but I will also share some responsibility for their suffering too.
So what does this mean for us today, about sharing our faith with the people around us?
If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. [Matthew 10:13-15]
Jesus sends out His followers to share God’s good news message too, but knows that not everyone will accept it.
Jesus urges them to bless those they speak to with God’s peace; if they are open they will receive it, but if they are not, they will not receive it.
The ‘shake the dust off your feet’ gesture sounds harsh, but needs to be understood in the context of God’s mercy and Jesus’ love.
It is not an insult or derisive action, or should not be.
Instead it means not to pressure people, to allow them the freedom of their response.
The dust on your feet represents your time with them, your sincere attempt to reach them.
If they are not responsive, keep moving to others.
We need to remember the context – they were sent on a mission to many people, many villages.
if they stayed with the first unresponsive person until that person changed their mind (they might never do so), then what about all the others who haven’t heard yet.
Jesus is not saying that people only get one chance; rather, while we are with people we ought to keep on loving and warning them.
But we also need to respect their right to refuse – despite the consequences.
God will put many people in our lives – some we will have a long time to be with them, others will be very short opportunities.
In both cases, we should lovingly share the message of peace with them; in both cases we should respect their right to refuse.
Those that we have more time with, we should continue to love and warn them; those that we do not have more time with, we must move on and leave them to God’s grace.
The important thing is that, as watchmen, somehow we communicate the importance of God’s message, and their need for God’s help and blessing and peace.
After that, its up to them, and to God!
PRAYER:
Lord, I cannot force people to respond, but I do really want people to find peace with You. Make me a channel of Your peace!
The role of the prophet – to proclaim the Word of the Lord. Do this and Live, that’s what the Master said. That message must be told. And yet, those who hear may have ears that do not hear and eyes that do not see. But the message needs to be proclaimed and God gives the power to proclaim because He has filled us with His Spirit.
This reminds me of a Jonah who did proclaim. Yet we must leave the results in the Lord’s hands.
God’s people today, I must be a proclaimer, standing up for Jesus and standing on the promises of God. My life must be a living letter read by all. My life must be a living example of what it means to live life. I must speak the very words that the Lord God gives me to speak because I am His servant. I must give evidence each day of the hope I have in Christ Jesus and in that way be a living LightShine. That I must do and leave the rest up to the Lord.
1. Make me a channel of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me bring you love;
Where there is injury, your healing pow’r,
And where there’s doubt, true faith in you.
2. Make me a channel of your peace:
Where there’s despair in life let me bring hope;
Where there is darkness, – only light,
And where there’s sadness, ever joy.
3. O Spirit, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consolded as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love with all my soul – .
4. Make me a channel of your peace.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
In giving to all that we receive,
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.