When you look at how God called Ezekiel, there are a couple
of conclusions you can come to. One
thing that I like about the story of Ezekiel’s call is that it was completely
initiated by God. Ezekiel wasn’t
looking for a calling or wanting to be a prophet or actively looking for
God. God came along while Ezekiel was in
exile and called him. The whole thing
was initiated by God. The second thing
is that God was able to make his mission to Ezekiel very clear and
personal. Ezekiel didn’t have to try and
figure God out. God came him the words
to say, which is symbolized in Ezekiel 3 as God giving Ezekiel a scroll that he
would eat.
“and He said to
me, “Son of man, feed your stomach, and fill your body with this scroll which I
am giving you.” Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.” Ezekiel
3:3
God also told
Ezekiel that his mission would be difficult.
Yet, God was with him and made him able to hold up and even be
victorious over his adversaries. He
told Ezekiel that most would not listen to him “yet the house of Israel will
not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me.
Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate. Behold, I have made
your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.”
This seems very similar
to what Jesus would tell his disciples in John 15:18-27 also in 1 John 3:13. Jesus said that the world has hated him. And if the believer speaks the words of God
to the world then we can also expect to be hated. This is because the world loves the darkness
rather than the light. Light exposes
lies. Light shines the truth on what is
wrong. Light reveals absolute
truth. Light calls people to
account. And some people don’t like
that. They didn’t like it in Ezekiel’s
day and they don’t like it today.
Not everyone is called
to the ministry of an Ezekiel or Jeremiah, who was called the weeping
prophet. It isn’t always necessarily
going to be a ministry where confrontation is almost a daily occurrence. But, what we can take some comfort in is
that when God calls people to a particular ministry then he enable and equips
them to do that task. One other thing
that I will mention is that even though God knew that the ministry would be
largely unsuccessful in terms of numbers he sent Ezekiel anyway out of
love. But, he also told Ezekiel what to
expect because he loved Ezekiel also. He
wanted Ezekiel to know that he was with him and to not be afraid of what others
might think. That is the one thing that
should be remembered is that we don’t do ministry for God, but with God.
Another thing that I will mention is that God's call to Ezekiel was unique to Ezekiel. None of the prophets had exactly the same vision or calling. Moses had the burning bush. Samuel had a small quiet voice in the temple. Job had a whirlwind and a voice. Jeremiah had a voice that told him he knew him when he was in his mother's womb. Elijah had a still small whisper. Ezekiel had wheels within wheels. His vision was different in some ways. It is important for the person not to compare your calling with others and say this is exactly how God calls a person. God know who you are and what you will respond to. He knows how to get your attention. He knows your passions and your drive. He know what you need in order to be completely confident that it is Him speaking with you.
