A Prophet Among Us

In the twelfth year of the exile, during the tenth month, a refugee who had escaped from Jerusalem arrived in Babylon with the news that the city had fallen. Yet on the evening before the man reached the exiles, the LORD had already opened Ezekiel’s mouth, which had remained closed since the death of his wife. Just as God had foretold, the moment the report of Jerusalem’s fall reached Ezekiel, his ability to speak was restored. With the return of his voice, the word of the LORD came to him to confront the exiles, who had now also become privy to the news of Jerusalem’s fall.

Son of man, the people living in those ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as our possession.’
Ezekiel 33:24 (NIV)

Let Our Will Be Done…

God tells Ezekiel that the people remaining in the ruined land of Israel are claiming the land as their possession. They claim that if Abraham alone inherited the land, then surely they—being far more numerous and part of the “chosen race”—have an even greater right to it. Yet God rebukes their claim, for their confidence rests not in faithfully obeying Him but in their heritage. They continued in sin—idolatry, bloodshed, violence, and adultery—and because of these detestable practices their confidence was misplaced. The LORD therefore declares that those remaining in the land will face judgment: some will fall by the sword, others will be devoured by wild animals, and others will die by plague. The land itself will become desolate, and through this devastation they will come to recognise that the LORD is God.

Why is our instinct to dismiss God’s correction by emphasising our own cause and insisting that what we believe rightfully belongs to us should remain ours?

Our instinct is often to dismiss God’s correction because we measure our relationship with Him in terms of what we possess, rather than in terms of obedience and faith. When God’s message challenges our claims or our sense of entitlement, we instinctively defend what we believe rightfully belongs to us. Instead of examining whether we have strayed from God’s will, we emphasise our own cause and insist that our position must be justified.

This attitude resembles the rebellion of Korah. Even as the ground beneath their feet was about to give way, they refused to step back. In the same way, the ground beneath us may be caving in, yet we refuse to move away because we are convinced that our claim to our cause is valid. A similar problem can be seen among believers who measure God primarily through material blessings. They struggle to understand their present plight because they hold tightly to what they believe are inherited promises. Like those who claimed Abraham as their father, they cling to the land that was promised to him, yet they do not possess Abraham’s faith. Because of this, they fail to recognise that their spiritual footing is collapsing beneath them.

Another reason we resist correction is that we often take verses out of their context and apply them to our own situations. Instead of seeking what God intends to teach through His word, we interpret it in ways that support our present desires. When we are not truly in touch with God’s will, the meaning of Scripture becomes whatever appears most favourable to our circumstances. As a result, rather than allowing God’s word to correct us, we reshape it to justify ourselves.

Falling on Deaf Ears

My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.
Ezekiel 33:31 (NIV)

God tells Ezekiel that the people gather to hear his messages and even speak about them with interest, but they do not obey what they hear. Rather than doing the hard work of applying God’s word to their lives, they listen like observers who attend only to hear, not to act—even though Ezekiel has now been proven to be a man of God. Their words may sound sincere, but their hearts remain driven by greed and self-interest. To them, Ezekiel’s message is little more than entertainment, like someone singing love songs with a beautiful voice. They listen with interest, yet fail to put the message into practice. However, when the prophesied events come to pass, they will realise that a prophet had indeed been among them.

When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.
Ezekiel 33:33 (NIV)

Why is God’s word often treated merely as something to be admired or enjoyed—like praise or worship—rather than something to be applied and obeyed in our daily lives?

God’s word is often treated as something good to have rather than something essential for our lives. People admire it, listen to it, and enjoy it, but they do not see it as something that must be applied and obeyed in their daily living. One reason for this is that many do not truly believe that they can live by these words. The teachings of God sound good, but people feel they are not practical for everyday life.

For most people, trust is placed in themselves or in tangible things. Because our trust rests in these tangible things, we never really take the alternate road that God’s word calls us to follow. We may have heard that this road is also good, but we have never truly walked it. At the same time, faith is often turned into something to be displayed. God never asked anyone to showcase their spirituality through mist-filled praise and worship settings or through preaching with great oratory skills. God asked people to live by His words, not to perform them. Serving God does not require us to leave our comfort zones; instead, following His will makes any situation our comfort zones. Yet many end up doing many things to showcase their righteousness while believing they are doing something great for God.

God’s word is often reduced to something to be admired or enjoyed because people are moved more by the sound and presentation of it rather than by the meaning of the message itself. From personal experience, people can be deeply moved by the tune and melody of a song without truly understanding the words being sung. In the same way, they may prefer to hear a message from someone who speaks their language well, whose timbre of voice they like, and whose life they want to emulate.

In such cases, the focus shifts to the vessel delivering the message—the person, their style, and their credentials—rather than to the word of God itself. Even when the Word of God is being delivered, satan uses these means to distract people from truly hearing what is being said. As a result, people become impressed by the speaker instead of listening carefully and applying the teaching to their lives. This happened with the disciples of Jesus as well, who were enamored with their rabbi to the extent they did not listen to any of his warnings.

Jesus was even rejected in his hometown because the people could not get past the fact that he was one of them—someone who had grown up among them and with their children—and was now delivering the word of God that was cutting to their hearts. The phrase “shoot the messenger” captures this phenomenon well, where the anger is directed at the one delivering the message. We often prefer to change nothing and continue in our own ways, but when things do not unfold according to our plans, we look back on the words of the man of God and realise that there was indeed a prophet among us.