Ezekiel 4:1 “‘1 Now you son of man, get yourself a brick, place it before you and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem. 2 Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall, raise up a ramp, pitch camps and place battering rams against it all around.’”

WITH A PURPOSE

When I attended the University of Georgia (Go DAWGS!), I had to take American History.  My very first history class was Part 2 (Civil War forward) and was taught by a very interesting professor.  This professor had a huge sandbox in the back of his class where he would act out the battles of the Civil War with toy soldiers and cannons.  He even made sounds of the battle as he taught.  I wasn’t quite sure what to think about this, but I did learn a lot about those battles.

Here Ezekiel is told by the Lord to build a scale model of Jerusalem to teach the people what was going to happen.  And he had to lay down on the ground for over a year and NOT move to do that.  Can you picture this scene?  Every day people would walk by and see him lying there with his “toy” city, staging a battle against Jerusalem.  I am sure he was ridiculed and made fun of by the children.  But he was obedient.  Why?  Because God had given him a message to deliver.

TEACHING MOMENT

Your children may question the instructions they get from you.  But you are preparing them to receive instructions from the Lord one day.  They may not understand the purpose of the directions they are given, but they must learn to trust the ultimate outcome.  They cannot see what you are doing as a parent to prepare them for adulthood. They only see the here and now.  You see the bigger picture.

Similarly, God is preparing us all for the future.  He sees the complete picture. He knows EXACTLY what He is doing.  We just have to trust Him.  Is that easy?  Nope!  But if we believe He wants what is best for us, we must learn to not question Him when He tells us to do something, no matter how crazy it may seem at the time.  I doubt He is going to ask you to build a scale model of your city and lay on the ground for over a year without moving.

Father, help me to trust Your word.  Help me to trust that You always have my best interest at heart.  I know You only want to see me grow more like Christ.