November 1 – Called To Fail
Scripture: Ezekiel 1:1-3:15, Hebrews 3:1-19, Psalm 104:1-23, Proverbs 26:24-2
You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won’t listen, for they are completely rebellious! (Ezekiel 2:7)
Observation: Whenever a speaker is about to be announced on a stage, the emcee will first give a list of their titles and accomplishments. There’s actually dozens of websites (and even a class) to teach you how to introduce someone. Just imagine if you were given the task of introducing Ezekiel.
You: OK, Ezekiel, first I need your qualifications. What do you do?
Ezekiel: I’m a prophet.
You: OK, and?
Ezekiel: …
You: Well, um, what were you before that?
Ezekiel: Nothing, well, I was an exile.
You: I see… Great. Well, what about your experience. What experience do you bring to the table.
Ezekiel: I lay on my side for a few hundred days, then I rolled over. I broke a hole in my wall and carried everything out it. I cut my hair and scattered it around the city.
You: I don’t see how…
Ezekiel: Speaking of seeing, I once saw this really cool wheel, inside another wheel, and it had four faces and…
You: Nevermind. What about accomplishments. What you accomplish?
Ezekiel: Nothing.
Application: He was a prophet, but nobody listened. He was faithful, in a faithless generation. The worst part about it, he knew this would be the case right from the start. Would I be willing to obey God if He called me to invest my life into something and then told me, up front, that I would fail? Would you? Ezekiel’s calling is one to radical obedience. It is one that I love to admire, but I’m not so good at emulating.
Prayer: God, help me to get past the “what’s in it for me” type of attitude. Sometimes I think I love the idea of serving You far more than the reality. Help me to have such a love for You that my response to Your calling would always be instant and unquestioning. Let me live a life of worldly failure, if that’s what living a life for You looks like.