This is the second part in the series “Following God is hard to do…” To read part 1, click here.

Following God is hard to do because… He will call you to do strange things.

Ezekiel’s calling was by no mean ordinary.  His audience was the rebellious people of Israel, his message was not an easy one, and God was asking him to do things that were just plain weird.

¹¹ Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times. ¹² Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.” ¹³ The LORD said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”¹⁴ Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign LORD! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”¹⁵ “Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.” (Ezekiel 4.11-15 NIV)

Do What!?

Did God really say that?

At this point, if I were Ezekiel, I would really begin to question if this was God telling me these things, or If was just going crazy.  God literally told him to bake his food over crap! No matter how spiritual you may think you are, if God asked you to do this today, there would be a problem.

Ezekiel, like us, had to learn that God does not just do things out of randomness, although it may seem like it. God had called Ezekiel not just to preach of the coming judgment of his people, but also to demonstrate it.  Ezekiel could have said “But God, the prophets in the past did not have to do these things, and they got their messages across!”  God had called him to a particular purpose and he lead him to do unique, and often very difficult, things to achieve that purpose.

When God has called you to do something, there are two things to remember:

1. It will not be easy.
   • God will call you to do things out of the ordinary. Ezekiel had to cook his food with crap. Enough said.
2. Do not judge your call by comparing it to others.
   • God call on each person is unique. You are not to look at how other churches are doing something. Instead, you must look to where God is leading you and your ministry.

Recently, I have been reading through the OT book of Ezekiel. I have learned many lessons and want to share some of them with you all. This is the first time I have post a series of blogs so stay tuned for the upcoming parts.

Following God is hard because… He will call you to do something that will stretch you faith.

Ezekial had it tough. Not only did God call him to warn his people about their impending judgment (never a fun topic), but God also told him that they are a rebellious and stubborn people. What a bummer.  Can you see him getting ready for this speech?  Talk about a hostile audience.

Here is what tells Ezekiel:

4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’ 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house. 7 You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. 8 But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” (Ez. 2:4-8 NIV)

What a poor pep talk. God doesn’t even try to sugar coat things for Ezekiel. He says, “Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions.” Briers, thorns, and scorpions – way to freak a guy out!

Whenever we decide to follow God, we must be prepared to have our faith stretched. God understood that this was not an easy challenge for Ezekiel. This was not going to be a popularity speech by any stretch.

God also knows that when He calls you and I to a task, it is going to stretch us as well. That’s the point.

What is God calling you to do? Take courage from Ezekiel’s story. Read verse seven and apply that to your situation. Yes, it is going to be tough. Yes, people may not what to hear what you have to say, but God is saying, “You must speak my words to them.” God has called you for a purpose. Now pursue it!

Following God is hard because He will call you to do something that will stretch you faith.

There are two aspects when it comes to getting a word from God.

1. Listening
2. Doing.

God is so willing to give us direction, but we have to be at a place of willingness to do what He says because there are consequences to hearing a word from God and not obeying. An example of this is the prophet Ezekiel.

God called Ezekiel to be a prophet of warning to the people of Israel.  God spoke to him in a powerful (and strange) vision and told him about Israel impending judgement if they did not change their hearts.

Here’s the important part!

God was extremely specific in His instruction to Ezekiel. Here is what God said would be the consequenses if Ezekiel did not do as the Lord said:

Ezekiel 3:18-19

¹⁸ When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. ¹⁹ But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.

When God speaks, we are to act. We have a responsibility to quickly listen to the voice of God, because if we do not, the consequences not only affect us, but those around us.

What is God speaking telling you to do?

Are you moving or sitting still?

There is more at stake than we realize..

Life is tough…

We are all going to face hard times, but in these times there is something important to remember, and that is the importance of desperation.

There is a story in Isaiah about a king who was against overwhelming odds.  His name was Hezekiah. The army of Assyria was sweeping through the land and overtaking every kingdom in sight. Hezekiah’s was next.  The Assyrian king sent a messenger to tell the Israelites to surrender, and thus, not be destroyed. But the messenger mocked Hezekiah and his people.  In response, Hezekiah ran to the temple of the Lord and this was his prayer:

?O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.  ”It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God. (Isaiah 28:16-20)

There is a very important principle here for any God-fearing leader.  At our point of desperation, we must run to the feet of our deliverer, just as Hezekiah did. He alone can set us free and bring us to the point of looking down at our problems in victory.

Ask yourself today: Are you facing what life is throwing at you with your own strength, or are you running in desperation to the feet of the Most High, because it is when we are desperate that God can best use us.

One of my favorite things to think about is how to make connections between all the different things we experience in life.  One thing that I see as a constant is this one simple truth: Nobody really knows what the heck they are doing in life. Now, personality plays a large role in the way a person looks at life such as the difference between a “type A” personality, who by nature looks for things to do, and a “type B” personality, who by nature is more laid back; but regardless of the personality type, life is one of the few things where there really seems to be no clear direction.

I have seen a common thread that runs through the way most people live their life and I describe it as this: everybody wishes to succeed in some fashion, but since there is no clear way to get there, most result to playing a type of real life poker in the hopes they have been lucky enough to get the right cards. “Life is really all about chance,” they say, “and I am going to put myself out there and hope that everything works out in my favor.”

And sometimes, this formula works. These “lucky ones” are able to make it, or at least put on the appearance of making it. But these people are few and far between.  The reason most people are so unhappy and angry about their life is because they feel cheated and robbed, and I say that they are right.  Since the beginning of man, we have had an enemy that has wanted nothing more that to take our joy of living and cause us to only exist; but we are called to much more than that.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10 NIV)

God is after the small things in our life. The reason most Christ followers miss the mark and end up just like every other unhappy person is because they have missed the point of the relationship with the Father. As I push further in my journey with God, I realize more and more that at the end of the day, God is not all about telling me what to do, but telling me who He is. God does not want us to run to Him in our time of need to get the answer we seek, only to rush off once more and forget Him until He is needed again.

Instead, He wishes that we would remain with Him. We were built to exist in the presence of God, but through our sin have we lost that right. But still, He longs for us and we must long for Him.  There is still no one way to live our life that is universal for all.  That is why it is so imperative that we learn to not only run to God, but also remain with him.  In His embrace is where we belong.

Go and start living!