Ezekiel 2:6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them
Summer camp is an exciting time here at the Bill Rice Ranch. We have thousands of people from all over the country and sometimes abroad that come for summer camp. We have things going on throughout the year, but summer is certainly a highlight for us. We have a week and a half of training for the summer staff, those who come just for the summer months. There are about eighty summer staff who are mostly college age and some high school age young people.
Not long ago I was talking to this group of summer staff as we were preparing for summer camp, and I went to the book of Ezekiel to look at God’s commissioning of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a captive priest who was a prophet to the captives in the land of Babylon. What is God’s message to Ezekiel? In verse 6 it is “Be not afraid.” Be not afraid of what or whom? It says, “Be not afraid of them.” This is not referring to the Babylonians but to Ezekiel’s own people to whom he was to give a message that they did not want to hear.
Now, what does it take to make you fear? As I was thinking about our summer staff I said to them, “If you work in the dining hall, maybe it is breakfast that makes you scared. If you are a counselor, maybe it is a twelve-year-old camper that makes you fear. If you are a cowboy, maybe you are afraid of the horses!” Let me tell you that is does not take much to make you afraid when you are the one that has to make things happen. Friend, regardless of where you are or what you do, your job is not to make things happen.
In the first place, there is a world beyond yours. Ezekiel 1:1 and 28 are bookends of a crazy vision that was revealed to Ezekiel. Ezekiel was right in the middle of the humdrum mundane. He was a captive by the river Chebar, and the Bible says, “The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” These are visions that are hard to comprehend and to understand, but that is because they are visions of a transcendent God.
The point is, there is a world beyond yours. We are absorbed with the world around us, the affairs of today, yet we often forget that there is a world, an entire cosmos, above us. Just like the sun that is above the clouds when it rains, there is a God and a world beyond what we can see. So, when you are commissioned, trying to do something that you cannot do, it is good to remember, as Evangelist Bob Jones Sr. said, “You and God make a majority.” So, there is a world beyond yours.
Also, there is a word beyond yours. God says in Ezekiel 2:4-6, “Thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD God. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hast been a prophet among them…be not afraid of them.” God later says, “Thou shalt speak my words unto them…hear what I say.” So, there is a word beyond yours. Sometimes you think, “Well, what do I say or do?” Your job isn’t to make things happen. Ezekiel didn’t have to make up words or a message, he simply was to hear what God gave him and to be faithful and obedient in giving that message to God’s people.
As it turns out, the message was lamentation, mourning, and woe. It was not exactly something that was bright and cheery, yet it was the necessary step to their restoration and joy in the future. So, your job isn’t to make things happen today. Your job is to hear, to accept, to take what God gives you and to be a vessel through which God can work in His world today.