The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me. And I came to the exiles, and I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
Ezekiel 3:15
The beginning chapters of Ezekiel and his calling into a prophet open with a fantastical and awe-inspiring vision of the heavens including visions of living creatures, heavenly structures, and even seeing the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
And at the end of the whole ordeal, the vision overwhelms him. leaving him undone before his peers for seven days.
Out of this fantastical experience comes the rest of Ezekiel’s oracles. These are ripe with doom and gloom prophecies, harsh words towards the people of God, and leave Ezekiel as a crazed man. Crazed, but unlike his peers, non-rebellious and within the covenant of God.
Ezekiel’s experience serves as an excellent teaching lesson about living righteously before an awesome God.
Perhaps what we lack most in our Christian lives is what Ezekiel experienced–a high vision of God.
Poor living as a Christian can be attributed to suffering from a poor vision of the God we worship. Poor vision leads to poor fear. And poor fear leads to a lack of obedience.
And before our hearts can be opened to obeying God, perhaps what we need first is to have our eyes opened. That the Spirit of God would remove the dullness in our sight and grant us a proper and lofty vision of the God of the universe.
Perhaps such a vision would then inform whether we cheat on our taxes, or whether we say his name in vain, or commit adultery, or steal. I propose that it is such a vision of the Almighty which we lack most.
It is vision which should overwhelm and overshadow the morality of our lives
It is such a vision that I crave would be released to us.
It is such a vision that I lack in my own life.
So I say with humble contrition, Lord, open our eyes to see You!
