Ezekiel 3 Devotional

Warnings Sent in Love

““Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me.”Ezekiel 3:17 (BSB)

Ezekiel eats the scroll God hands him, and its words of mourning taste sweet in his mouth (2:10; 3:3). He sits among the exiles at Tel-abib for seven days, overwhelmed (3:15). Only then does God name his role. He is to be a watchman, a lookout on the wall whose job is to see danger coming and sound the alarm (3:17).

If Ezekiel stays silent, the wicked will still die in their sin, but he will answer for it. If he warns them, he has done his part, whatever they choose (3:18-21). Yet behind the watchman stands the One who sends him. A God who only wanted to condemn would not post a lookout. Warnings come because God wants people to turn and live, which he will say plainly later in this book (18:23). When Scripture presses on a sin in your life, that pressure is not God pushing you away. It is the watchman's cry, sounded because he would rather you be safe.

To think about: Is there a warning in God's word that you have been treating as an insult rather than as an act of care?