A Repainted Faith

Chaising God

Tuesday, April 04, 2006


He makes the steps, we follow


The more that I read Ezekiel 47 the more it speaks to me. Or I guess I should say the more things jump out at me. I am still thinking about the significance of the distance from the temple, but while I was reading it again and again something else stood out to me. So here we go again with this scripture (I promise I’ll give it a rest when it stops speaking to me)

Ezekiel 47The River From the Temple 1 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits (1500ft) [a] and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits (1500 ft) and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand (1500 ft) and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand(1500 ft){6000ftbut now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?" Then he led me back to the bank of the river.

The “he led me” in this scripture blew my mind the other night while I was reading it. Over and over again we see “He led me”. He led Ezekiel through the ankle deep water, through the knee-deep water, through the waist deep water and finally into the “deep end” with him. The whole time God was leading him. When the glory was only ankle-deep God was leading. He is leading Ezekiel into his presence. I always heard people say “you can step boldly into his presence” but I have never been able to in myself to do this. I want so much during my prayer time to step oh so boldly into His presence but I don’t know how and I never feel worthy enough to try. What I have come to realize is that “He goes before me” He leads me there, into His presence. It’s written all through out His word. In Exodus 13:21

Exodus 13:21
By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.


He went before the children of Israel as a pillar of fire by night; he led them through the darkness of the desert wilderness. During the day he led them in a pillar of cloud. He was there preparing their steps before they made them. He went before them. He went before his servant David when he faced Goliath. All of King Saul’s army stood in terror of the 9ft tall giant, but David did not.


1 Samuel 17:32-37
32 David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."
33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth."
34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."



David wasn’t afraid because he knew that his Lord Jehovah (the I AM) went before him and the victory was already his. David didn’t know how to fight a Giant and neither do we for that matter but David did know something that was more important. He knew God did. I think there are a great many of us that become discouraged when God says to do something. We become discouraged because we try with all OUR might to accomplish it and we exhaust ourselves in the process and just when we have given up the Lord says “now that you are done I can work through you” We try to make our own steps instead of following the steps already laid out for us.
Jesus does the ultimate leading. He offered himself up because he would rather take our punishment then to be with out us. The pastor at my church made a powerful statement this Sunday he said “there was room enough under the cross for all” and I would like to add “to follow”.
“Lead me” is a prayer that I hunger to pray, whether it is ankle-deep in you or swimming in your glory. What ever glorifies you, just lead me...

2 Comments:

Blogger Derek said...

Wow, that is a great thought. I never noticed the repitition of the phrase, "he led me", but it is indeed a significant part of the text and the message of Ezekiel 47. I feel that God wants us to surrender to His leading, to get caught up in the flow of His leading. The more that He leads us and the farther that He leads us, the more we get caught up in the flow of who He is, the more we get lost in Him. When He leads we follow, when He moves, we move. And as we learn to follow, we learn to flow in His current.

I really think that you are on to something here, Travis.

Now, I ask you to relate these thoughts and findings to the way that they relate and fit in to the preceding chapter (46) and the following chapter (48). After you do this, we will think in terms of its relation to the whole book of Ezekiel.

Shalom.

7:29 AM  
Blogger Travis said...

I have been reading through Ezekiel looking at the context in which it was written and what was going on during that time to try and get a better feeling for the text. and it is really interesting to read. Its a side of God that no one likes to talk about but to me it is facinating. I will get back with you on this.

7:51 AM  

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