Ezekiel 1 - Praying God's Word

Please read Ezekiel 1.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/eze/1/1/s_803001

Meditate on verses 1 and 3.

Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth

 day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar

 among the exiles, the heavens were opened

 and I saw visions of God. The Word of the LORD came

 expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi,

 in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar;

and there the hand of the LORD came upon him.

If things had gone according to plan, Ezekiel’s 30th birthday would have been celebrated with him officially entering the priesthood, serving at the Temple in Jerusalem (Numbers 4:3). Instead, he sat among a bunch of Israelite exiles in Babylon as part of God’s punishment for sin. Ezekiel never served in the Temple at Jerusalem because the Babylonians destroyed both city and Temple. However, God had greater things planned for Ezekiel, revealing Himself in amazing ways never before seen or heard by humans. Amazingly, you have the privilege of seeing Ezekiel’s visions and hearing God’s Words because Ezekiel acted as a faithful priest despite horrible circumstances, and God ensured every precious Word was recorded.

Sometimes, God surrounds His people with barrenness of exilic proportions in order to force them to look up. When they do, they see the heavens opened (v. 1). Does the LORD have you or someone you love in that place? If so, take heart as you spend the next 48 days reading the prophecies God gave Ezekiel. Pray to be like the four living creatures in Ezekiel’s first recorded vision, using the words from Ezekiel 1:12.

“LORD, let _________ and me go straight forward;

 wherever Your Spirit is about to go is where we want to go,

without turning as we go.

Because we are following You, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL, 3 – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell