Ezekiel 1-4

The word “harsh” is what comes to mind after reading these four chapters in Ezekiel. The Lord gave Ezekiel a vision and then gave him messages to give to the people…this was during the time that Israel was being held captive in Babylon.

I don’t know if this is symbolic or realistic, but I’m inclined to believe it might be symbolic and may be using some hyperbole. The Lord told Ezekiel to bake enough bread and ration enough water to last over 400 days. He told Ezekiel that he would tie him up with ropes (real ropes, or paralyze him?) so that he would stay down on one side, one day for every year the people of Isreal sinned. Then he was to turn over to the other side and stay there one day for each year the people of Judah sinned.

Can you imagine?

I don’t know the meaning behind Ezekiel so far except that perhaps it is speaking to the future — our future — and that the Lord was truly serious about finding a way to shake his people up and turn their hearts back towards him.

What did the refugees think when they saw him like that? According to these scriptures, the Lord somehow stuck Ezekiel’s tongue to the roof of his mouth so that he could not speak until the Lord had given him another message…then his tongue would unstick, and he’d be able to talk.

I won’t go into boring details, but suffice it to say that today I probably needed my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. I have to stop commenting on things around me that I notice because it comes across as being negative and complaining. So what are my motivations for speaking? Why do I even note that the elevator lobby has a mildewy smell? Today I mentioned it in an off handed way not as a complaint but as a greater observation of the damage that Katrina wrought five years ago. This place is beautiful, but there are slabs of concrete surrounding our building, testaments to the wild, fierce side of beach living. Yet my off-handed remarks come across as whiney, and I end up irritating the people I love the most.

So maybe I need to seriously consider a vow of silence. Ask God to stick my tongue or at least help me stop it. Let my words be few. I’d rather lose my voice than make others miserable with it.

It’s just been a stressful day with funeral arrangements and writing the obituary and scheduling details…yet, it was a beautiful day nontheless!