A study in the Book of Ezekiel I love the scripture. I love how it challenges me.

I love how when I come underneath the holiness and wisdom of its words it lays open my heart and cuts thru the thick layers of callouses and scars. It divides me. It illuminates me. It fills me and it teaches me. As I open up the book of Ezekiel I find a refreshing challenge. One that I simply read and then say, wow, this is a trip! This is a story, a history - of a man who was essentially journaling and recording his day, the year, the month, and the where he was, even a brief context as he says it was during the 5th year of King Jehoiakim's captivity, he pens what happened. He had a vision. Not just a word of the Lord coming to him, as awesome as that would be. But a vision, as he sees living creatures with four faces and wings and fire and clouds and wheels and eyes and the Spirit of God filling the wheels and leading the creatures everywhere they were to go. They did not have the ability to turn but could move forward in the direction of each face and go up and down on the wheels they sat upon. Wow, now I have heard some people try to contextualize this as the 4 synoptic gospels, each carrying its own style or face if you will, being lead or written by the Spirit. Now, that might just be. But, I would assume that when God speaks and gives radical visions to his people, he wants to blow us away and teach us about himself. It seems to me like much more than a bible lesson he was giving about books that would be penned years later, though I know God does speak prophetically all the time. This was a glimpse into heaven, a touch into the realm of the spirit that gave Ezekiel an awesome opportunity to be astounded and in awe. May the Lord blow us away and show us more of whom He is.

May we see his glory and fall on our faces in reverence of him. May we say, "Oh man. Who am I? What was I thinking? I thought I had God all figured out? Now that I see him, I am greatly humbled and worship him because no other option will suffice." Then, may we have ears to hear Him. May we listen and obey Him. And, may He radically shape and use our lives as we sit under the glory of the Almighty God. We see in the end of this first vision from the last part of verse, Eze 1:28 "This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake." Now... Lord, open our eyes. Teach us. What does this mean and how do you desire to challenge us in this passage today?
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