Dreamer, nothing but a dreamer. Part 2

Last week we started looking at Joseph. If you’re anything like me you went back and looked again and again.

It’s a nice visual, that’s all I’m saying.

By the end of the post last week I was feeling just awful for poor Joseph. He had been thrown in a pit by his brothers, hit on by some married old lady, thrown in jail for standing up for what he believed in and had been separated from his family for years. That poor kid! It’s a rough life, even if you are ridiculously good looking.

This week as we continue on with the story of Joseph, things become a bit clearer. It suddenly makes sense why he had to go through so much to get to a place where he could be used by God.

We were starting to see little clues of the way that God was going to be using Joseph for his ministry. The fact that he went on this crazy rollercoaster ride of responsibility was one of the major ways we saw God’s influence; there was no way that on his own Joseph could continually rise higher and higher after falling so low every time. In Genesis 41 it becomes glaringly obvious that this was all part of God’s plan to call Joseph into his service.

We don’t see the glaring white light like Paul (Saul) saw on the road to Damascus; Joseph doesn’t have his lips purified by seraphs like Isaiah; there isn’t even any “and the word of the Lord came upon him.” Joseph and God never have this tête-à-tête where they discuss what path Joseph’s ministry is going to take. Instead, Joseph’s call just happens as an inevitable result of the circumstances of his life. As I stated eearlier, by the end of last week I was feeling bad for poor Joseph. This week, however, it made sense.

Let’s pretend for a moment that Joseph’s brothers had not sold him to the Ishmaelites. This would mean that Joseph would never have made it to Egypt and definitely wouldn’t have made his way to be right-hand man to the Pharaoh. If he hadn’t been thrown in jail he wouldn’t have been made known to the Pharaoh. Even his time serving in a position of authority for both Potiphar and in the jail made him and ideal candidate to, in essence, rule alongside the Pharaoh.

One of the greatest lines comes up in Genesis 41:15-16, where Pharaoh is all like “Mmmm, hey there, can you interpret my dream?” And then Joseph is all like, “Actually, I can’t do that, yep, I have no interpreting ability at all!” I can only imagine the atmosphere all around with him saying that. The cupbearer is fearing for his life, he was the one who made the recommendation. The bystanders are wondering why he wouldn’t just make something up! The Pharaoh is steamed because nobody, that’s right, NOBODY, says no to Pharaoh!!! And following that split second of tension, Joseph follows up by saying “But I’m sure God can give you the answer you’re looking for.”

And this becomes Joseph’s standard response. He avoids taking credit for the things that are done because he realizes that all of this is coming from God. When he tells Pharaoh to appoint a wise and discerning man to essentially rule over the land, he never suggests himself as that man. Instead Pharaoh sees Joseph’s wisdom through the faith that he has in God. Joseph does not seek out Pharaoh to show how astute he is. He never says more than he needs to in order to seem wiser. Instead, he says what needs to be said and gives all credit to God. This is in essence his call; to believe in God and to give God the credit for these amazing acts of faith.

Too bad we’re not called to do the same.

Joseph and the technicolor dream-call

What better way to start your day off than with a little bit of Donny Osmond? Isn’t he handsome in form and appearance?

And for your listening pleasures (this is dedicated to my sister, it’s her birthday today)

I hope you realize that I’m not just getting my kicks from a young Donny Osmond, but that we’re looking at the story of Joseph.

Joseph seems to suffer from a condition that I have diagnosed as YSS- Younger Sibling Syndrome. He is your typical younger sibling, you know, needing attention all the time and getting all the best stuff and being loved most by his dad, ermm, not that I’m an older sibling who is bitter or anything!

But let’s be honest here, in Genesis 37 Joseph comes off as a bit of a brat. He’s tattling on his brothers, trying to make himself seem more important than them (Hey look guys, I had this dream where I was greater than you and you all bowed down to me, isn’t that weird? Heh, I guess dreams mimic real life don’t they?). I mean surely he knew that his brothers were not very fond of him, why poke the bear?

I suppose the short and easy answer is because that’s what was supposed to happen.

When I have a dream (not the Martin Luther King Jr. variety) and I actually remember it in the morning, I’m pretty quick to share it with everyone who I think might be interested. Now usually it elicits nothing more than a “what did you eat before you went to bed???” but every once in a while someone might try and interpret it, to see what is going on in my life that might have produced such a weird dream.

Joseph’s dream was meant to be interpreted. Whether he knew it or not as he was sharing it with his family, it had significant meaning and was the beginning of his call from God.

Unfortunately, even though these dreams were signaling the beginning of his call, it wasn’t necessarily a happy beginning. These dreams had him hated even more fiercely by his brothers to the point where murder was a very real possibility. But luckily all they did was steal his coat, dump him in a cistern, sell him into slavery and then tell his dad that he was murdered and his body eaten so that said father wouldn’t go looking for him.

Oh boy is it fun to receive a call from God!

And really this is where we get stuck too, right? There’s all this crap that comes at us, usually all at the same time, and it gets us down. We get depressed and are sure that God has completely forgotten that we exist. There’s no way he would let all of this horrible stuff happen to us if he knew what was actually going on. Or maybe if I just stop what I’m doing, this horrible stuff will stop too. I mean, if God wanted me to follow him he would have made it easier.

Luckily, Joseph doesn’t follow this same thought process. Even though this all happens he keeps going and as it says several times throughout Genesis 39 the Lord was with him. It was something that even those who didn’t believe in God noticed about him. It was this faith in God, the way that God worked in his life that caused him to rise up higher again. He had it even better than before: he was in charge, had lots of respect and authority; what a great life!

Of course you know the story as well as I do and you know that it wasn’t meant to be. The respect and authority didn’t last for too long. Potiphar’s wife had other plans for Joseph, plans that my innocent little mind can’t even begin to comprehend. And as soon as he had begun to climb up that ladder again, he was punished for something else that he didn’t do.

His father spoils him; his brothers sell him into slavery. Potiphar gives him a big promotion; Potiphar’s wife is upset with Joseph’s morals and has him sent to jail. As soon as he makes progress he’s sent down even further than he was before. With all of this yo-yoing up and down, you’d think that Joseph would lose faith, give into the temptations that are surrounding him and really stop trying to please God.

Obviously, Joseph isn’t us. God had big plans for him and even when he was at his lowest; God used him to do good. His call wasn’t limited to one event, it wasn’t even really vocalized. By the end of chapter 39 we’ve only started to get a bit of background on how God is preparing Joseph to really carry out his call. There’s still a few more ups and downs before Joseph gets to the point where God wants him to be.

Yep, this far in and it’s only just beginning. As Beyonce would say “I don’t think you can handle this.”

Stayed tuned next week for part 2 of Joseph and his unusual call from God!

Be Strong and Courageous

Easier said than done, right?

The narrative about Joshua and his call to ministry is a little different than what we are used to seeing. Typically in the people that we’ve looked at so far there has been a very clear circumstance in which the word of God came upon them in some form or another. With Moses we see a burning bush; with Mary there is an angel sent to proclaim her impending role as mother of God; with Isaiah there were seraphim with burning coals; with Joshua, he isn’t even consulted until the matter has been decided. Yep, I would say that would take a heck of a lot of strength and courage to live out a call that someone accepted on your behalf.

One of the things that I like best about my job is that I have a lot of flexibility with the way in which I do things. There are certain things that I have to do, but I get to make a lot of decisions about when and how they get done, and I like that. I like the feeling that I am in charge and can choose a lot of what I do. I think this is the part that throws me for a loop with Joshua is that he really didn’t have any choice.

Numbers 27 outlines the call of Joshua. Now, what you may find weird is the fact that Joshua is not involved in the process at all. The section that you read is essentially a conversation between God and Moses where Moses expresses his concern and God gives Joshua as a solution. In my humble opinion, if I were called to be the leader of the Israelite people and expected to lead them in the fulfillment of God’s promise, I’d kinda like to be involved in the decision process.

It’s ok though because later on in Deuteronomy Moses took Joshua to tell him all about what he and God had decided. Oh right, he told him in front of all the people of Israel. It’s really easy to decline or dispute this appointment with all of these people who are now expectantly waiting for you to lead them. Again, this is a situation in which I, myself, would be pretty dang ticked; but I guess that’s why I wasn’t chosen to be in this situation.

Joshua really seems to take it all in stride, rather than feeling angry about the fact that he wasn’t consulted in the huge turn that his life was now taking, he understood it as the will of God and recognized the importance of God choosing him for that task. And let’s be honest here, that takes an awful lot of strength and courage. But really this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what he will face in the days to come.

Joshua’s ministry is not easy. He is called to fill some very big shoes…errr…sandals. Following after such an influential and well-known leader as Moses would not be easy for anyone to endeavor to take on. Although we look at it now and see the difficulty that was inherent in this calling, the one thing that we need to focus on is the promise that God makes in saying “Be strong and courageous.”

It doesn’t really seem like much of a promise, does it? You’re all probably thinking that with the coming of the end of the week I’ve lost my head a little and forgotten the proper grammatical term here; you’re drifting over to the comments section and your fingers are longing to type out, “It’s a command!” “That’s the imperative, you dummy!” “Bleearggghh! I’m angry!”

It does seem an awful lot like an instruction; as though God is commanding Joshua to take on this task of remaining strong and filled with courage no matter what the circumstance may be. The promise comes into play in Joshua 1 where God promises that just as he was with Moses, he will also be with Joshua. The reason that Joshua can remain strong and confident is not because he is superhuman and can deflect any troubles that threaten him but rather because God has promised to be with him. God gives him the strength and courage that he needs in order to take on this massive mission.

This calling of Joshua reminds us of one of the greatest failings that we find in our own lives: our dependence upon ourselves. We want so badly to prove to those around us that we are good enough to undertake anything thrown our way that we forget about God’s promise to be with us as well. We look inwardly for that strength and courage that God has told us comes from Him. We try so hard to do it on our own that we are shocked when we fail; shocked when it’s so difficult; shocked when it has drained us of all energy and all confidence.

When we look at the call of Joshua and the call to be strong and courageous, what we are really looking at is the call to believe in God. We are called to believe that God is there to give us the strength that we need in order to overcome the difficult situations in our lives. Joshua was never promised a life of comfort and ease. From the beginning he was told that he would encounter several difficult situations, whether from the people that he was leading or the very task of fulfilling God’s promise to his people. The difference is that he was never told that he had to do it on his own. As ludicrous as God’s plans seemed and as impossible as the Israelite people acted, Joshua was able to remain strong and courageous because of God’s promise that He was (and still is) always there.

Mary, Mary, not at all contrary

Last week we looked at the call of Abram, a different kind of call; one to be the father of the nations, rather than to proclaim a message. This week we’re looking at a similar type of deal, except now it’s the mother of the nations, Mary, mother of Jesus.

In this section we see how God uses the most unlikely people to be a part of his message. He uses those who are lower on the social ladder and those who are not great and powerful to inhabit the most extraordinary roles. Mary is one of the most well known people in the bible. Her story is well known to Christians and non-Christians as her situation flies directly in the face of all of our commonly held beliefs about how biology works.

God’s call to Mary comes in a rather spectacular way; through the message of an angel called to give Mary the news. When we look at this story there are a lot of mixed emotions about the situation that she is in. First off it is pretty amazing to be chosen for this task. There’s a lot of responsibility in being the mother of Jesus. Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend some time with a pretty brand new baby, and it is always amazing just how dependent they are on those around them. It doesn’t take a lot to harm a baby, and there’s nothing that they can do to stop you either. God in his most fragile state was the responsibility of the young girl Mary. I’m nervous enough caring for a normal baby, never mind a baby who is also God!

Second, let’s have a look at the social situation. This message was severe enough to bring about death. A baby is usually the by-product of a sexual union. Given the fact that Mary was not yet married, was waiting for the ok that she hadn’t been sexually active, this was a major conflict for her. It wasn’t just that it was going to be hard for her to deal with a new baby, but it was a cause for being ostracized at the least and affecting her entire manner of life.

Third, it was contrary to everything that she had been taught. It was brought about as a result of the fact that she had found favour in God’s eyes. Combining this with the previous ideas, it doesn’t seem like a positive reward for being faithful to God. When we think of rewards we think that things are made easier, or we receive something positive as a result of what we have done. In this situation, it was the opportunity to serve God in a more difficult manner that came as a result of her faithfulness.

Looking at the difficulties that Mary would face, it would appear to us that she might have some hesitation in accepting the call to be the most blessed among women, but we see the exact opposite happening. Without the declaration of ineptitude, the desire to run away or the excuse of being too young, she accepts the call of God. She proclaims that she is a servant of the Lord. Never does she expect that she will do this on her own, but neither does God tell her that he will be there with her. Her faith, the very same which caused her to be in great favour with God, is what gave her the ability to accept this call. Even as a young girl she shows greater faith than old men who have studied God’s word for years. She doesn’t require a detailed list of what’s going to happen, she doesn’t ask for a step by step plan. She trusts God completely and as such takes up the responsibility that he has put before her.

I trust you

Trust

It’s a dirty little word. How often have you said “I trust you,” all the while having visions of the absolute worst case scenario and how you’re going to fix whatever goes wrong.

What does trust actually look like?

I should have thought this out better because I honestly have no clue what the answer is.

The example of trust that we saw in our bible study on Monday evening was that of a young child. The story went that there was a tree with a rope tied on one of the branches. The children would climb up a ladder and swing on this rope that was so high above the ground that their mother would be trembling while watching these children play on what she considered to be an incredibly dangerous plaything. The kids had faith that the swing was well secured and would hold their weight. The mother was envisioning all the things that could go wrong, all the ways that these children could be heard. She was oblivious to the shrieks of joy because in her mind they were replaced with shrieks of pain and hurting.

As you’re reading that, I can only imagine that your heart is going out to that poor mother. You’re remembering the horror stories that you’ve heard, you’re thinking about that stupid things that you’ve done and the same stance that you’ve taken when someone that you care about has done something that scared you half to death.

Jesus knows about fear. He experienced the most terrifying events that a person could ever imagine. And beyond that, he knows about our fears too.

In John 14 Jesus points us toward the ultimate source of strength, the one in whom we can trust. He acknowledges that our hearts will be troubled. He knows that we do have difficulty trusting him.

Going back to that rope swing. If that mother could be assured that the tree, rope, ladder etc. were all structurally sound, that it was completely safe, do you think she would cease worrying? No, probably not. Would she be less worried? I would imagine yes. This is the same sentiment expressed in the reading from John. Jesus assures his disciples, the same way we are assured today, that there is a plan in place. There are preparations to be done but the result will be phenomenal. This statement is meant to calm our fears and doubts and to point us towards the promise that he has for us.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Jesus reveals himself to us as the one who saves. It is not only his words that make him trustworthy, but his actions, the way he cares for us and the very fact that he was willing to sacrifice everything in order to ensure that we were taken care of. In everything else that we place our trust there is always that possibility of being let down; in this we are assured that everything has been done and there is no need for doubt.

Now of course we can say that just fine. I can stand on the street corner and yell until I’m blue in the face about how much I trust in Jesus. I could write an entire blog post about just how deep my trust in Jesus actually goes. But what good is this expression of faith, if I’m not willing to do anything about it? If we do believe in what Jesus has done, that He is the way, the truth and the life, then a natural reflection of that will occur in what we do. I am well aware of the fact that I am a sinner. I am well aware of the fact that if it were up to me and what I do that I would rot in hell. I am also aware that God has forgiven my sins. I can recognize the blessings that God has given to me.

What now?

I can also recognize that elliptical trainer that is sitting in the corner. Do I get in better shape just by realizing what it is? Of course not. My spiritual health suffers as well when I recognize the opportunities and blessings that God has given to me and fail to use them.

We are faced with two options: to live our lives comfortable in our nice little bubble or to be shaken up and be put in an uncomfortable circumstance.

Now looking at those two options, I will be the first to admit that the first one seems a lot nicer. I can be in control (which I like a lot) and I don’t have to worry about being hurt. Sound familiar? Now if only that danged St Paul would stop calling me on it. Relying on God is scary. It very rarely produces the results that I had planned. But sometimes it produces something that is even greater. How can I know that God will have something good planned for me?

Trust.

'Cause I gotta have faith

By now I hope that you realize that on Thursday mornings we have been looking at people in the bible who have been called by God in some manner or another. If you haven’t, well, there you have it!

Now the majority of the calls that we’ve looked at have been attached to some form of action that the recipient was called to do. We saw Jonah being called to Nineveh, Paul being called as an apostle to the Gentiles, even Ezekiel proclaiming a message of mourning and lamentation to his people, the Israelites. Today’s call, well, the call that we’re looking at today, obviously this did not just happen 7.32 hours ago, is a little different than that.

Clue #1: He had many sons

Clue #2: Many sons did he have

Clue #3: I am one of them and so are you

I hope that brought back memories of your childhood and

encouraged you to don rainbow colours and a great deal of makeup.

Anyways, we are talking about Abraham strike that, we are talking about Abram.

I know what you’re thinking, actually that is a complete and utter lie, I have no clue what you’re thinking, but I do know what I’m thinking: Abram didn’t really do anything. Before you flog me, here’s what I mean; he didn’t have a great and powerful message that he went out to proclaim to the people. His message was through his actions, what he did (hmm, maybe that’s why Father Abraham is an action song). So let’s go take a look at his call.

Before you get all high and mighty about what a great follower of God Abram was, let’s take a pause and look at his family lineage. His family didn’t have the greatest history with the whole worshiping God thing. At this point in time, Abram himself wasn’t the greatest worshiper of God either. He was living a life in which he offered worship to many other gods, but not to the one true God.

That is a pretty immense demonstration of Abram’s faithfulness in God. There was God, a being that he wasn’t even aware of, making all of these promises and proposing these farfetched ideas, and you know what? Abram went for it! Unlike Jonah, or Moses or Jeremiah or many others, he didn’t put up any protest at all, as we see in verse 4 which simply say that he left. No fuss, no complaints, no inquiries as to who this God actually was; just simple acquiescence.

That Abram is a swell guy. He really goes above and beyond the call of duty. He trusts God all the time and never once doubts that God will keep his promise.

The best part of this reading is that it paints Abram as being completely human. He does have doubts, and he even acts on these doubts. Genesis 12, the second part, reminds us of how flawed a person he actually is and how we can relate to him because of these flaws.

I am a huge worrywart. At any point in time there are ten hundred different worst-case situations running through my mind. I can imagine situations that would be nearly impossible, and then convince myself that they are destined to happen. As these scenarios are running through my head, I’m coming up with solutions as well. I can get so fixated on these problems, and on these solutions that I forget to look at what’s happening around me at that very moment. As you can imagine, a lot of the time what I’m imagining and what’s actually happening don’t match up.

This is what I see happening to Abram. Their path has taken a little bit of a detour and for reasons beyond his control they need to travel through Egypt. The sweet part of this story is of course the fact that even after having been married for a fairly significant amount of time, that Abram still found Sarai to be the most attractive woman in the world. The not so sweet part is, of course, that in his “Worst-case Scenario Plan” (heretofore referred to as WoSP…not to be confused with WASP) he puts his beloved wife in a very awkward situation in order to save his own life.

Of course at this point God completely forsakes him and leaves him to figure out this mess on his own.

“I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

God kept his promise. Abram screwed up and tried to fix a situation that God had under control. As much as we laud Abram for his faithfulness we forget that, just like us, he had his doubts. His own fear and trepidation at times outweighed his trust in God. We all have those moments where we doubt what God is doing in our lives. We don’t trust his plan and we think that we know what’s best.

But God does keep his promises, even when we think he doesn’t. He sticks with us, even when we screw up the plans that he so painstakingly put together. The message that God has given Abraham to proclaim is one that is not limited to a specific time or place. It’s a message that continues on today and reminds us of the faith that God gives to each of us, and the forgiveness that he offers, even though we don’t deserve it.

Of Metal, Rainbows and Really Tough Choices

Let’s do a quick survey here. And because it’s fun to play with technology let’s use this nice little survey site. So give me some clicks people!

In the account from Ezekiel, we see both being used to describe the image of God. Now in today’s context, the rainbow doesn’t necessarily evoke the same emotions as it would in Ezekiel’s time. As you will recall the rainbow has a very powerful history. Unlike today where it brings to mind 6 year old girls and My Little Pony the rainbow was initially a reminder of God’s love and mercy. It was (and still is) a reminder of the covenant that God made with His people that no matter

how angry he was at their actions, no matter what terrible acts they did, He would not destroy them as he had during the great flood.

This is where the account of Ezekiel’s call begins. The Israelite people, to whom Ezekiel belongs, feel as though they have been betrayed by God. They are now in exile, they have been taken away from the land that they had been promised and they are pretty dang ticked with God. These are the people to whom Ezekiel is called to minister.

One of the big differences that we see here with Ezekiel is that he is called to be a prophet to his own people. It’s not like Jonah who is carried away to Nineveh; not like Jeremiah who is to be a prophet to the nations; not even like Paul who is called to disciple the Gentiles. Ezekiel is called to preach the message to his own people, and as we soon find out, to a people who are not willing to hear God’s word. And as we hear Jesus himself say “No prophet is accepted in his hometown” (Luke 4:24).

Whether or not the Israelite people want to hear this message, God is ensuring that they are made aware of the fact that he cares for them and is looking out for them. He sends Ezekiel to preach a difficult message; a message that the Israelite people don’t want to hear. We know that God isn’t a bearer of light, fluffy messages. He doesn’t offer platitudes and consolation. He speaks the truth and through his prophets he provides a message that is, more often than not, quite difficult to hear. The thing is, though, that he does it because of love. The appearance of the rainbow in the beginning of this account is not just a coincidence. It’s a reminder to Ezekiel, to the Israelite people, and heck, to us too, that He is a God of love. He is capable of doing great damage, He can destroy the whole world with the snap of his fingers, but that’s not what he wants to do, He wants to save us.

Now let’s look at what God has to say about the House of Israel, because believe you me, it is nothing good. He calls them stubborn, rebellious and impudent. Now, you will remember that Ezekiel is a part of this group, right? It’s the same as if someone where to come up to you (or me) and say “Canadians are all a bunch of lazy bums. They don’t ever listen to what is told to them. They are completely ridiculous.” My first reaction is to rise up and defend my people, whether the allegations are true or not, but Ezekiel doesn’t really even get the chance to do that. God is straight up revealing fact. Not only that, but he is admonishing Ezekiel to not follow in that same path. Ezekiel is given the choice: will you choose to follow your people, or will you choose to follow me?

This is a message that I would imagine you can relate to quite well, I say this because this is a message that I relate to. In my heart of hearts I know what the bible says. I know the message that God is asking me to carry forth…even when I pretend that I don’t. I also know what everyone else is saying, and more often than not the two messages run completely parallel to each other. Ne’er the two shall meet. As we hear in this account, and from the words of Jesus himself; sharing the word of God with your own people is nearly impossible. One of our desires as humans is for acceptance from our peers. We’ve all done our share of stupid things in order to be accepted by people we wanted to be our friends. What we rarely do is to speak up against what is being done, even if we know that it’s wrong. We are afraid of what people will think of us, but there is also the very real possibility that no one will listen to us anyways. What makes us any better than everyone else? When the whole rest of society is saying one thing, and we’re saying the exact opposite, what could possibly make one person’s way of thinking better, or more correct, than what the majority of people would have you believe?

Obviously, as you could guess, Ezekiel does as God commands him. He believes in God rather than in the rebellious ways of his own people. He follows God’s command to preach a message filled with lament and mourning and woe, knowing that it will bring sweetness to his people.

It is ultimately the last part of this section that brings about the biggest sense of sympathy for Ezekiel. For his entire life he has belonged to the House of Israel. He has followed what they did and identified himself as belonging to them. Now, following a comparatively brief encounter with God his whole world is flipped, turned upside down and he is forced to reconsider everything that he has ever believed. And we see that he is angry and he is bitter. He is forced to return to his people, knowing that they have greatly displeased God, that they don’t want to listen to God, and more than likely that they won’t listen to him either. It’s a sucky position to be put in. But where I feel the most pain for him is in the very end of v. 15 where he just sits for 7 days, completely overwhelmed by what has just happened. He can’t talk to anyone about what has just happen because they won’t understand. Not only will they not understand, but they’re the very reason why he has been put in this position. I am a very interpersonal thinker. I process best when I am able to talk to someone and hear what I am thinking as someone else would. I like to hear other people’s opinions and process that in the context of my own life. To not be able to do that would leave me completely overwhelmed as well. To be stuck inside my own head for days on end without anyone to share my thoughts with would nearly ruin me, it’s a difficult time for Ezekiel as he struggles with his thoughts about his people and his God.

Ezekiel’s account reminds us more than anything of the difficulty that we will face as we live out our Christian lives in our current society. As you and I both know, it is increasingly difficult to be a Christian as is spelled out in the bible. It is awfully hard to love your neighbor as yourself when you are trying to gain as much money and stuff as possible in order to one up your neighbor. It is hard to serve your neighbor when you are trying to work your way up the company ladder and appear greater than those around you. We, like Ezekiel, are not given an easy choice. We can say we are Christians and rebel against his word, doing what we like and what is easier, similar to the House of Israel or we can follow the more difficult example of Ezekiel. With the knowledge that what we are doing is difficult, and is not something that our closest friends and family will ever be able to understand, we can proclaim God’s word, we can live our lives in a Christian manner, even though we know it will be difficult and overwhelming.