Surprised by Hope?

As many of you know, my daughter was born under the most unfortunate circumstances.  This being near the time for her second birthday, I believe that this is a fitting time for this message as I have had to come to terms with it over the last 24 months.  If you attend church with me, this was already preached by a certain evangelist from South Carolina.  If you do not, then Glory to God, you’re about to get a good word that could change your walk with God forever.

I’ll let you go and read Ezekiel chapter 1 instead of typing it all out.  First things first, you have Ezekiel.  He is 30 years old, in the fourth month and the fifth day of his 30^th year.  He was taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar during Jehoiachin’s reign as king and sitting by the Chebar River in Babylon with the rest of the exiles. 

Starting in verse 4, Ezekiel seems like he’s lost his mind.  Five years and five months into this captivity, Ezekiel, son of Buzi (he he Buzi), saw something that he did not have the language to describe.  That is why once you get a picture in your head of what he saw, it changes in the next statement that he makes.  He cannot describe it accurately because he is at a loss for words.  Now, a word of warning, do not get caught up in the symbolism in all this while you are reading this post.  I’m sure that there are plenty of things to be said about the symbols, but I am covering something much deeper in what is written in this first chapter of what Ezekiel wrote down. 

There’s a whirlwind, a cloud with a raging fire that is engulfing itself (how does fire engulf itself?), and then light was coming out of it and all around it.  If that wasn’t enough to confuse you, he begins to describe this creature that apparently changes by the minute.  Ezekiel begins to attempt to describe this creature that he’s seeing from his four faces, to his calves’ feet that sparkles like the color of burnished bronze, and of course in verse 18 their rims that were high and awesome. 

Above this 4-faced creature with the high and awesome rims was a sapphire stone with a likeness of a man sitting on it who was fire and amber from the waist up.  From the waist down was all light and fire.

What in the world was going on here?  Had Ezekiel drank some bad wine?  Did the Babylonians try and drug him?  No, there’s a history lesson that will tell you why I do not think that it was something that he ate that made Ezekiel see this vision. 

Ezekiel was a priest (v. 3) which basically meant he was a lawyer of sorts.  He would tell people that did not know what the law said about their particular situation.  It was his job to prescribe the sacrifices needed to fix their respective situations.  He knew the Law of Moses like few did. 

In those days, when an occupying force would invade somewhere, if they were successful, they would take anyone that was of breeding age and either castrate them or crush their testicles.  His wife was also murdered.  Nebuchadnezzar stole the furniture out of the temple and the temple was destroyed.  What does the Law say about when someone that is unworthy goes into the Holy of Holies?  THEY DIE!  The Holy of Holies was the place that the presence of Almighty God chose to rest, it’s the room with the blue flame over the ark of the covenant.  Yet, when Nebuchadnezzar goes in there, he comes out with the spoils of war only to melt it down.  Now, Ezekiel has to question the very foundation of everything that he knows to be true.  Two major questions come up at this point.  1. Did Moses miss it when he wrote down the Law.  2. Has God left us?

In seemingly 1 day, Ezekiel has lost his job, his wife, his freedom, way of living, some pretty important parts of his anatomy and become a slave to a kingdom that hates his homeland.  Now, it appears as the all powerful Yaweh has left them in their time of need.  Can you feel Ezekiel’s dilemma?  I kind of feel sorry for this guy.  For 5 long years, he is in captivity.  He is brought to a kingdom that worships Ishtar, the goddess of love, fertility, war and sex.  Worship of Ishtar included but was not limited to intimate acts with young girls.  There is a distinct possibility that this was going on somewhere along the Chebar river where we find Ezekiel when this chapter begins. 

What does all this have to do with my daughter?  Here’s your answer.  Since Lily has been born, I have lost quite a bit.  Some of it is material things, but most of it is something money cannot buy.  Like Ezekiel, I have questioned the basis of my faith.  I have been mad with God.  I questioned Him on multiple occasions.  Do I know better than Him?  Absolutely NOT!  However, in the darkness that my family has walked through, we have been surprised by God on multiple occasions. 

Here’s how God acted to remind Ezekiel who He was, and it changed Ezekiel’s life forever.  God goes into the territory of a deity that demanded war and sex as worship to her, and puts on a show that nobody else can match, much less explain.  He shows out at an “away game”.  It would be like the Georgia Bulldogs going to Alabama and beating the Alabama Crimson Tide 100-0…with their back up team’s back up team.

No matter the circumstance that you find yourself in, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!  He is with you.  Even if you find yourself chained up in the enemy’s camp, you are not alone.  You may lose your place to live like I did.  You may lose your job.  It may even go as far as you losing a child or your spouse.  I am not trying to negate the pain that any of those, especially the last one, would cause, but even in those horrible circumstances, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!  

I am grateful to the people that I have around me and how they handled the situation that began when Lily was born.  It’s kind of cliché for the church to throw a scripture at the person in pain.  Sometimes, the best thing that you can do is keep your mouth shut, keep the person company, and let Jesus do His mighty work.  Let the manifest presence of God work to reveal itself to those in pain, much like it did on that day by the Chebar River in Babylon. 

Furthermore, Have you ever had an experience with God that you cannot explain?  I have.  I was worshipping in church one Sunday and my hip had been hurting so badly that I couldn’t sleep at night.  During this particular service, the wind blew and I felt the pain leave my body.  I cannot explain it.  I know it was the presence of the Holy Ghost taking the infirmity away.  Ezekiel, in the first chapter, found himself in a similar predicament.  He did not have the language to explain what he was seeing.  The good news is that his loss for words didn’t matter.  What mattered is that he wrote it down so that other’s can read it and grow closer to God from it.  The same goes for you and me.  We do not have to validate our story with God.  We just have to tell it. It’s called “witnessing”. 

I bless you today to know that you serve a God that can roll into enemy territory and still do exactly whatever He wants to and there’s not a flippin thing that anyone can do about it.  He’s always with you even if you cannot see Him working or even feel like He’s near.  He is the Great I Am and His wheels are high and awesome

Grace and Peace be with you ALWAYS!