Ezekiel 1:15-21: a reflection

15Now as I saw the living creatures, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it. 16The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl. The four of them had one likeness. Their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel. 17When they went, they went in their four directions. They didn’t turn when they went. 18As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes all around. 19When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them. When the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 20Wherever the spirit was to go, they went. The spirit was to go there. The wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 21When those went, these went. When those stood, these stood. When those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

Ezekiel's vision of God's glory includes one of the strangest images in Scripture: beside the living creatures are wheels, gleaming, wheels within wheels, their rims full of eyes all around. Wherever the creatures went, the wheels went with them, moving in any direction without turning, rising when they rose. And the key to their movement is given: the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. Whatever the Spirit intended, there the whole living structure went.

The vision resists tidy explanation, and that is part of its point. It conveys the overwhelming, mysterious greatness of God, whose glory is borne on something beyond our full comprehension. But one clear truth shines through the strangeness: God's glory is not static or stuck. It moves freely, wherever the Spirit wills, in any direction, unhindered. The God Ezekiel saw is not a distant, immovable idol but a living, moving presence, going wherever his Spirit directs.

Two things to take from this vision. First, let it stir wonder and reverence. God is greater and more mysterious than our minds can contain, and it is good sometimes to stand before what we cannot fully explain and simply worship. Second, take comfort that God's presence is not confined or stuck; he moves wherever his Spirit wills, and he can come to you wherever you are. Do not imagine God as distant or immovable. The living God, borne on the wheels of his Spirit, is free to reach you in any place and any circumstance.

Lord, Ezekiel saw your glory borne on wheels that moved wherever your Spirit willed, mysterious beyond his understanding. Stir in me that same wonder and reverence, and teach me to worship what I cannot fully explain. And thank you that your presence is not distant or stuck, but free to come to me wherever I am. Move toward me by your Spirit, living God. Amen.