He was from a priestly family, and he undoubtedly looked forward to serving God in Jerusalem’s temple. As a young man, Ezekiel had dedicated himself to be a priest.
We often need fresh starts after enduring bitter disappointments. In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. loves, and cares, and sympathizes, and understands, and seeks, and saves, and forgives, and helps, and encourages, and walks by our side… taking care of us in life when we can’t take care of ourselves. That’s the way He cares for us too-every day, all year long, always. Moses reminded the Israelites that God was taking them into a land of hills and valleys, of water and streams, “a land for which the Lord your God cares the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year” (Deuteronomy 11:11-12). He is committed to caring for us, watching over us, and giving us strength when we are within His will. In the middle of life’s battles, we’re tempted to question God’s ordering of our circumstances, but every follower of Christ can look back and see the conspicuous hand of God’s Providence. In a letter to Brigadier General Thomas Nelson, George Washington marveled at how God’s hand had protected him and given success to the cause of liberty: “The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and… has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.” Even more, we should practice demonstrating our forgiveness by our acts of lovingkindness. We cannot go through life without being hurt by others, so we should learn to forgive. After all, as Jesus explained, actions speak louder than words (Mark 2:8-11). So, Jesus proved He had the authority to say, “I forgive you,” by doing something harder. He was accused of blaspheming by saying He had the authority to forgive sins-something only God can do. When He told the man that his sins were forgiven (and by extension, he was healed), He was criticized. Jesus faced this dilemma when He healed a paralytic man. After all, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, love is known by its actions more than its words. It’s one thing to say, “I forgive you,” but it’s another to act like all the effects of an offense are completely erased. But that is what forgiving someone means-restoring relationships to the status they enjoyed before the offense took place. The hardest part of forgiving another person is acting like the offense never occurred. When Jesus saw faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” The God of grace loves to forgive.įorgiveness is to be set loose from sins. God gave him a second chance.ĭon’t let your past keep you from trusting God for a second (or third, or fourth) chance. Jonah repented and called on the Lord and was delivered. You know the story-Jonah ended up in the sea where he was swallowed by a great fish. But Jonah fled west toward Spain because he feared the Assyrians. God commissioned Jonah to go east to Assyria, to the capital of Nineveh and deliver a message of judgment. But with Jonah, the “second time” was because Jonah had failed to speak God’s word the first time. With the other prophets, the “second time” meant additional prophetic utterances they were to deliver. And it also happened to Jonah: The word of the Lord came to Jonah the first time (Jonah 1:1) and then the second time (Jonah 3:1).
It happened to Samuel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, and others. It was not uncommon in the Old Testament for “the word of the Lord” to come to God’s prophets again and again. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”
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