The One About Ezekiel, the News, and Caffeine Addiction

Dear Congregation

Gridiron football is back, which means Fall is apparently close! I can almost smell the soothing wafts of pumpkin spice over the pungent notes of scorched earth and molten asphalt. 

I am in the stage of my annual bible reading plan where I am into some really difficult sections of the Old Testament. I started Ezekiel today, which is a phenomenal book, but I wouldn’t say that I was hugely excited to wade into its undeniable complexity this morning, especially as my brain still had quite a lot of waking up to do. So, while I waited for the caffeine from my second cup of coffee to kick in (the first cup is simply a survival instinct and no longer has any effect at all on general wakefulness) I decided to do something that I don’t ordinarily do … I opened my laptop and checked the news, and my email, and social media.

It wasn’t good. 

From the aftermath of the destructive and deadly fires in Maui and downtown Johannesburg, to the storms in Florida, a coup d'etat in Mali, and the ongoing war in Ukraine, not to mention the partisan arguments about which octogenarian is unfit to run our government and which one is totally fine, the entire cycle left me feeling a little desperate and more than a little despondent. The world - it would seem - is a bit of a mess, and the world’s inhabitants are, well, kinda the worst. It was this sense of discouragement and despondency that I carried with me into the first chapter of Ezekiel. My expectation for learning something that would positively change that was low.

But God. He always speaks. Here is how Ezekiel opens.

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, while I was among the exiles by the Chebar Canal, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. 2 On the fifth day of the month—it was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile—3 the word of the Lord came directly to the priest Ezekiel son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar Canal. The Lord’s hand was on him there.- Eze 1:1–3 (CSB)

Now I know that those verses aren’t necessarily self-evidently optimistic, but they contain in them some remarkable truths about God and how He works.

It was at the worst time, when God’s people had been in exile for so long that most of them must have given up, and when there hadn’t been any evidence of His work or help for a generation that God sends a vision. It was in the worst place, among the exiles in the wicked empire of Babylon, where it seemed that there was nothing good in the society when God spoke to and through His servant.

You see, even when it seems really dark and totally broken in the world, God is still at work.

Even when it seems like society is lost and wickedness abounds, God is still speaking.

Even when it seems like the people of God are dormant and we start to wonder if we are all alone, God is still loving. He even speaks in Babylon. He even moves amongst the darkest nights. The world might not be going all that well, but God is still God, and we get a glimpse of Him, He is still revealed as glorious and majestic and wise and holy and sovereign. 

So take heart dear friend. God is still God.

The music this week is from Austin Stone Worship. It is incredible.

Hymn of Healing | Austin Stone Worship (feat. Matt Redman) | Lyric Video

See you Sunday.
Ross