Ezekiel put in A LOT of effort to obey God, even to the point where obeying God put him into uncomfortable situations. He was asked to do many difficult things. Here are some examples:
In Chapter 4 of Ezekiel, God wants Ezekiel to get the point of the siege God is going to let happen to Jerusalem by acting out physically to represent the sin of Israel and Judah. He is to lay on his side for 390 days “the same number of days as the years of their sin” to represent Israel’s waywardness, and then turn over and lay on his other side for 40 days.
Also in Chapter 4, Ezekiel is commanded by God to to make a defiled bread with ingredients that they would not commonly use in bread except for in cases of scarcity of food. This bread was to be cooked over human dung. After Ezekiel intercedes, God allows him to use cow dung instead. I don’t know about you, but that does NOT seem appetizing!
In Ch24, he is told not to mourn for his wife that God takes from him. “Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead; bind your turban on your head, and put your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips, and do not eat man’s bread of sorrow.” So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died; and the next morning I did as I was commanded” (Eze 24:16-18).
God asks His people to do some hard things at times. This is seen clearly in Ezekiel’s ministry. Would you be able to do these things to show your devotion to God? It is clear that Ezekiel had God as his first love.
God asks us to do some difficult things also. We are commanded by Jesus to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses daily to follow Him (Luke 9:23). He is not saying to deny ourselves of some things we like, He is saying to deny OURSELVES. We are to put His will above our own, even if that calls us to do some very sacrificial things, even to die for His cause.
Another thing that is not always exciting to do is evangelism. For some people, pulling out their teeth with a pair of piers sounds more exciting. But this is something that all Christians are called/commanded to do. Yes it is uncomfortable, but if we love Christ we will do it. Would you prefer to do the things that Ezekiel had to do? They sound A LOT harder to me.
Obeying the Lord is not always comfortable, but it is always the right thing to do!
