Ezekiel 24:13-17: a reflection

13“‘“In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you won’t be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest. 14“‘“I, the LORD, have spoken it. It will happen, and I will do it. I won’t go back. I won’t spare. I won’t repent. According to your ways and according to your doings, they will judge you,” says the Lord GOD.’” 15Also the LORD’s word came to me, saying, 16“Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down. 17Sigh, but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind your headdress on you, and put your sandals on your feet. Don’t cover your lips, and don’t eat mourner’s bread.”

This is one of the hardest moments in any prophet's life. God tells Ezekiel that he will take away the desire of his eyes, his wife, with a single stroke, and that he must not mourn aloud or weep as others do. The prophet's private grief becomes a public sign to a people about to lose everything they hold dear. Few callings have asked more of a person.

We should not pass over the cost quickly. Ezekiel is not told that his loss does not hurt, only that he must carry it in a particular way for the sake of God's message. He sighs, but in silence. Behind the sign is a man whose heart is breaking, obeying God in the very place where obedience is most painful. And behind the whole scene is a God who himself grieves the loss of a people he loves.

Most of us are never asked to bear grief in so public a way, but many of us are asked to keep walking, to keep our duties, while sorrow sits heavy inside. If that is you, know that God does not despise the quiet, contained grief that still gets up and does what must be done. He sees the sighing you keep to yourself. Bring it to him honestly, and let him carry with you what others cannot see.

Lord, you asked Ezekiel to carry a breaking heart in obedience, and you did not scorn his silent grief. When I must keep walking through sorrow that others cannot see, meet me in it. Receive the sighing I keep to myself, and let me lean on you for the strength to do what the day requires. You know the weight; help me carry it. Amen.