Ezekiel 11: 2 "Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and give evil advice in this city...prophesy against them...!"

As the prophet was seeking to declare the Word of the Lord in the city prior to its exile, there were those who were seeking to undermine his prophetic office and contradict the Word and will of the Lord. It must have been so frustrating to Ezekiel to deliver the Word of the Lord and then have those who were seeking to create doubt concerning what had been spoken.  What could Ezekiel do?  He did the one thing he could. He would continue to prophesy the Word of the Lord, and God would deal with these men.  

We would like to think that whenever we are faithfully delivering the Word of God that all those who hear will receive and obey the Word.  This does not always happen. And sometimes there are actually people who are working against us.  How do we silence them?  Do we go look them up and confront them? There may be occasions when that is necessary, but the most effective thing that can be done is to consistently, obediently prophesy (PREACH) the Word--and let God deal with them in ways that only He can (1 Peter 2: 15). Ezekiel did not deliver the Word in vengeance but with compassion.  After he had proclaimed this Word, one of the opposition leaders died, and Ezekiel was fearful for all of their lives (v.13).  

Sometimes we become "proud" in our preaching when we have "rightly divided the Word!" Our pride is to such an extent that we lack the compassion and humility necessary to "rightly deliver" the Word of God.  We must faithfully preach the Word in season and out of season with authority AND humility and compassion.  If we lose our tears in ministry it will affect the effectiveness of our years in ministry.

In  Christ,
Tommy Middleton

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