Context No. 3122 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:10-15: in context

10Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, receive in your heart and hear with your ears all my words that I speak to you. 11Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse.” 12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, “Blessed be the LORD’s glory from his place.” 13I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing. 14So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and the LORD’s hand was strong on me. 15Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv who lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.

God tells Ezekiel to take his words into his heart and go to the exiles, to speak whether they will listen or refuse. The Spirit lifts him up with the sound of the living creatures' wings, and he goes, he says, in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, with the hand of the LORD strong upon him. And he comes to the exiles at Tel-abib and sits there, overwhelmed among them, for seven days.

Notice Ezekiel's inner state. Commissioned by God, carried by the Spirit, with a glorious vision behind him, he goes not triumphant and eager but in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit. The call was hard, the message unwelcome, and he felt it. And when he reaches the exiles, he does not launch into preaching; he sits silent and overwhelmed among them for seven days before a single word. Even a called prophet needs time to sit with the weight of his people's suffering before he can minister to it. Before he brought God's word, he shared their silence and their grief.

Am I willing to sit with people in their grief before rushing to speak, letting the weight of their situation reach me first?

Sources

Ezekiel 3:15: "I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv... and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days."
Job 2:13: "They sat down with him... seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great."
Romans 12:15: "Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep."