Ezekiel 12:1-2 (NIV) “The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.” This episode talks about how it is easy to judge others about how they are turning away from the Lord. It's easy to judge others but what about looking at where in our lives we are turning a blind eye or a deaf ear to what God is saying or showing us. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Are You Listening?
Ezekiel 12:1-2 (NIV) “The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.”
I thought this was an interesting verse because I can see how it applies to my life. Have you ever wanted something so much you were blinded by it? Have you ever been offered an opportunity and it seemed so good you couldn’t really see it for what it really was? I think this has happened to all of us at one point or another. We know how God wants us to live. We know the life He is calling us to live and yet when we look at how we are living our lives it may look like we are blind or deaf to what God is saying to us. Even though we know the right way to live, so often we choose to live in a way that is in complete opposition to the life we are being called to live.
I find it easy to judge the Israelites. I find it easy to wonder how the could be so rebellious. God literally parted the Red sea for them. They had God in their presence every single day. They got to listen to Moses speak and Moses got to talk with God. They received Manna every single day. Imagine a miracle every single day when you wake up? They had God winning wars for them left and right. They saw so many miraculous things and yet they kept turning away from God. It is easy for me to look at all they have done wrong and wonder how they could have gotten it so wrong. How could they keep turning away from the one true God to worship all these other Gods?
It is easy for me to judge until….until I think about all the times I have turned a deaf ear or a blind eye to what God is calling me to do. I think in my head they were lucky because God was with them every day. In Exodus 13:21 it says, “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.” Yes, they had the presence of God, but so do we. They had God leading them either as a pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire. Yet, we have God’s true presence in the Eucharist. I know it is not the same in all parts of the world, but in most parts of America you can go to mass every single day if you want to. Not only can we be around the presence of the Eucharist, but we can have that presence inside of us.
I think about how luck they were to see the amazing miracles they got to see. I wonder how anyone who saw such incredible things could ever turn away. I mean, if I saw God part the red sea I would like to think I would never stray from Him. However, I have seen God do incredible miracles and that thought is still not enough to get me to turn off the tv or stop scrolling on social media. I do not like to judge others. I have prayed hard for God to help me with this and I have gotten pretty good at remembering we are all going through something and so when someone is having a hard time, I don’t usually judge them. When someone is acting unkind, I remind myself I don’t know what they have been through. Maybe they just got some awful news and don’t really know what else to do. I heard this saying once, and it has always kind of just stayed with me. The saying was, “Hurt people, hurt people.” Meaning if someone is being unkind and hurting someone else it probably means they are hurt as well and they are acting out. That is not an excuse for anyone to hurt someone else. I am not excusing their behavior, I am just trying to understand it. Knowing that statement is probably true, allows me to be more forgiving and less judgmental towards other people’s actions.
It is not our place to judge others. That right is reserved for God and for God alone, which is actually great. It is exhausting trying to judge others. It’s exhausting thinking we need to correct all we see and that we are better than others. If we spent less time judging and more time focused on what we could be doing better we would be a lot stronger in our faith. It is easy to read the scriptures and see how God could be saying these things to the Israelites, or to the various people in the Old and New Testament. However, do we realize God is saying these things to us? The Bible is a living document. It is not like any other book. God is talking to us just as much as He was talking to the people living at the time when it was written. Can you see how God is talking to you through the scriptures in the Bible? Did you know these words apply to us as well as to them? It is easy to see how they apply to the Israelites, but can we see how they apply to us?
Can you see where in your life you have been turning a blind eye or a deaf ear to the Lord? Can you find some time today to sit and listen to what God is trying to tell you, or what He is trying to show you? Even if you don’t know exactly what it is I think each one of us knows God has been trying to tell us something or show us something and we just really didn’t want to hear or see it. How about you, have you been trying to ignore that feeling you have that God wants you to do something you don’t want to do? For me, it’s fasting. God has been calling me to it and although I am not purposely avoiding it, I am letting the enemy talk louder. I hear God calling me to fast and then I let my perfectionism creep in. Then I wonder, what day do I fast, how do I fast, just bread and water, just for a few hours, fast from TV, fast from social media, etc and then I get so overwhelmed that I don’t do anything. So, this is me admitting to all who are listening that I have not been listening to the call of God and I am pledging I will start today. If God is calling you to do something, He will show you how, He will give you the strength to do it. What if we all took time today to listen to God and made the commitment to stop turning away from Him? What if we all agree we will no longer turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to the Lord? How much more amazing would our life be? What obstacles would we finally be able to overcome? What dreams might finally come true?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we are so grateful you speak to us and we are sorry when we don’t listen. We are grateful you show us the way and we are sorry when we don’t see. Lord, please help us to open our eyes and ears to you. Help us open our hearts fully to you. Help us to respond to your call. Help us to resist all the other voices in the world and just listen to yours. Help give us the strength to follow your call no matter where it leads us. We love you Lord, you are incredible. You are the Just One and you are the Great “I AM.” We are so grateful for all you do and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you on Monday. Have a blessed weekend!