Daily Devotion: May 6

Ezekiel 3:10-11
“Moreover He said to me: “Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears. And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ whether they hear, or whether they refuse.’”

I find it hard to acknowledge some of the things that God is trying to speak into my life because they go against everything I want Him to say to me. This reminds me of the times when I clearly heard my Dad call out to me, telling me to take out the trash, but I refused by pretending not to hear him. But whenever He would call out saying “dinner is ready”, I’d be at the table in a heartbeat. I fear that this is what I’m like with God as well, and the reality is, we all are, to some extent. We pick and choose what we hear from Him based on convenience and comfort rather than obedience to Him.

We may know what’s wrong, but refuse to flee from it (Adam and Eve). We may know God’s word, but refuse to follow it (Satan).  We may know God, but refuse to acknowledge Him in all that we do (Proverbs 3:5-6). The sad part is, hearing from God based on convenience rather than obedience leaves us out of two key things in our life. The first being; understanding God’s beautiful plan for us, and two; growing in our knowledge of who our amazing God really is.

In Ezekiel 3 this is the problem the Israelites we’re dealing with. They heard from God, but refused to acknowledge Him. They refused to receive any of His correction and warning because they were comfortable in their sin. They shut God out of their thoughts and convictions because they knew that if they didn’t, there were things in their life He would want them to change. This caused them to be strong in their convictions, but not strong in God’s convictions. This is a scary place to be.

And yet sometimes, we’d rather ignore what God is telling us, because we fear what He will reveal about ourselves more than the freedom of being led by Him. This is why one of the most scary, yet freeing things to pray is this “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalms 139:23-24)

I think the key part of that prayer in Psalms is the end which states “and lead me in the way everlasting” because sometimes we fear so much of what God sees in us that we forget about how God sees us. Yes there may be areas we need to change. These areas could be a sin issue like David with Bathsheba or a directional change like Jonah. Either way, God only wants to change these areas in our life because He loves us, wants us and has something better for us than the current place or state we are in. God doesn’t speak into our lives to be a bully, God speaks into our lives to “lead us in the way everlasting” because He wants what’s best for us. And what’s best for us is our relationship with Him. So when God speaks to us, do we refuse what He is saying because we fear what He wants to change in our lives for our own good?