Voice of a Prophet: The Dynamics of Experiencing God 1
Voice of a Prophet
The Dynamics of Experiencing God 1
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
EZEKIEL 1:1
Today we have cheap religion passing for Christianity. This cheap religion consists of bits of poetry, a few flowers, a kindly smile and a deed done for your brother. That seems to be the Christianity flavor of the day.
The Christianity we have today that passes for the Christianity and the Bible, “Faith of our fathers living still in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword!”
I do not know if it is possible to use language strong enough for its condemnation because it is not of the truth.
With the story of Ezekiel, we see the truth of the way God meets men.
Ezekiel was sitting by the river Chebar in utter dejection; all hope was gone. The light had gone out of his heart. When Ezekiel was at the lowest point of his life, and there was nothing more he could do, he encountered God.
We do not know how long Ezekiel’s encounter with God took; it could have been a brief moment, but it changed his life forever. As a result of that encounter and experience with God, Ezekiel became a voice of God to his generation.
Where are those voices today?
Where are those men and women who have come to the end of self so that they can experience God in the Majesty of His revelation?
Today, we do not want that.
We do not want the plow; we want the harvest.
We do not want the night; we want the morning.
We do not want the cross; we want the crown.
Thomas à Kempis said,
“The Lord has many lovers of His crown, but few lovers of His cross.”
In the kingdom of God we want to reap the harvest and get every kind of benefit in order to get something for nothing. It just is not possible.
Along with this is a misconception of grace. Grace does not mean that salvation is not a costly thing. It simply means that out of God’s goodness He gives grace to us who are unworthy of it.
German pastor and anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer emphasized this in his modern classic The Cost of Discipleship.
In it, he makes a distinction between cheap grace and costly grace.
He wrote,
“It is costly grace because it costs us everything, but it is free grace because it is freely given by God to people that do not deserve it.”
Our fathers knew the distinction, but their poor, degenerate sons do not seem to recognize it.
Ezekiel, this man of God, was despondent and down; he was in that place of dejection and being stripped down. Everything was taken from him, and he had nowhere to go and nowhere to lean.
We are a tricky crowd, and if we can find anything human to lean on, we will lean on it. If we can find anybody to help us short of God, we will hunt everywhere else, and God is usually the last one asked.
God stands under the everlasting shadow of usually being the last one consulted.
Sometimes people will get up and testify,
“I have done everything, and all I can do now is trust God.”
The One we should go to first is usually the one we go to last.
We are a tricky crowd, and that is why God sometimes has to take everything away from us to make us understand that He ought to be first.
David said,
“The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows” (Ps. 129:3).
That was an old countrified expression meaning that it hurts to have furrows plowed up your back; it hurts to have someone walking around on you with hobnailed boots.
Ezekiel knew what that was all about. When he could not feel any worse, it was then that the heavens were opened and he saw visions of God.
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