"Why vs Who"
So I proclaimed this to the people the next morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did everything I had been told to do. (Ezekiel 24:18 NLT)
God asked Ezekiel to do some weird stuff during his ministry. He asked him to tie himself up in his own house. He made his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth. He had him lay on his side for 430 days. But none of these compare to what God did in his life here in chapter 24. God takes Ezekiel's wife from him. God kills his wife so that the people can see that he is going to take the delight of their lives from them as well. What a mysterious & very costly object lesson. Is that really necessary?
Although this is a great mystery here, I think it holds some hope for us. First, our lives are not primarily about us. God cares about Ezekiel, his life, & his wife. But Ezekiel is secondary to God's plan which is primary. And so God can do in his life what he wants.
Sometimes God does things in our lives that are painful but it for his glory. We may not like it or understand it. It's ok though. Our lives are not about us. They are about him. And we must keep this difficult perspective even when it's impossible to maintain.
Second, life doesn't always make sense. Sometimes life is unpredictable. Sometimes things happen to us that are beyond our control. Sometimes we wait for answers and they never come. In the midst of these times, we must do what Ezekiel did. He obeyed. He obeyed God. He didn't know all the answers to "why" but he definitely knew the answer to "who." And God is better than any answers we could
find.
Whatever difficulty we find ourselves in, we must remember that he has a perspective we don't have, he has a purpose we can't always understand, & his person is much better than any answers to the question why!
No comments:
Post a Comment