The Christmas season has come and gone. Our New Year’s Day celebrations are yesterday’s news, and all the football games have been tallied and marked in the history books.
What do we do now?
Where do we find our purpose when the fun and exciting days filled with family and get-togethers have become the sullen mornings and overcast afternoons of everyday life?
How do we find joy when the parties are closed down, packed up, and stored away? We’re exiled from the good times, and we feel abandoned.
Ezekiel 1 tells of God’s people exiled by the Chebar canal. In that moment, the heavens opened, and Ezekiel saw visions of God. The Lord God of all the heavens spoke to the future prophet, and his hand was upon him there. In that tumultuous moment, Ezekiel had a vision. A storm cloud came out of the north, bringing magnificent revelations to the prophet.
His life was about to change, and Ezekiel fell on his face at the sound of his Lord’s voice.
Ezekiel had to face his exile in order to hear the word of the Lord. What’s God saying to us in our exile? What great thing does he have in store for us if we only listen to his voice?
Ezekiel 3:23 reveals Ezekiel’s continued commitment to God’s instructions:
“So I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the Chebar canal, and I fell on my face.”
Revelation 3:12 promises the rewards he wants to give us:
“The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.”
Matthew 26:64 whispers the words of the Christ directly into our ears:
“Jesus said to him, ‘You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ ”
Amos 1:2 unleashes the true strength of our God:
“The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.”
When things are going our way, and the party’s in full swing, sometimes it’s hard to hear the voice of God. His word comes to us most clearly when the noise dies down, and all the merrymakers head home.
We may feel the despair of exile on our shoulders, but to God, it’s a mantle of opportunity. It’s the slowing down and listening that lets God’s voice be heard above the din of daily living. Sometimes he does that for us so we can recognize him when he whispers in our ears.
When we see our despair as God’s opportunity, we will hear his voice whispering his upcoming renewal in our ears.
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Originally Published 3-22-16 in Hope