20230101

new year, old responsibility

Ezekiel 40:1-4 (JDV)

Ezekiel 40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month in the fourteenth year after the city had been captured, on that very day Yahveh’s hand was on me, and he brought me there.
Ezekiel 40:2 In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain. On its southern slope was a structure resembling a city.
Ezekiel 40:3 He brought me there, and I noticed a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand. He was standing by the city gate.
Ezekiel 40:4 He spoke to me: “Son of Adam, look with your eyes, listen with your ears, and pay attention to everything I am going to show you because you have been brought here so that I might show it to you. Report everything you see to the house of Israel.”

new year, old responsibility

A new year was beginning, but it didn’t promise any changes. For fourteen years the city of Jerusalem had been captured by a foreign power. The new normal had become captivity and shame.

Then the old prophet had a new vision. God was going to do something extraordinary. He told the old prophet to pay attention because everything he saw in the vision had to be passed on to the people.

Do we have a new vision for this new year? Wrong question. What we should be asking is how careful have we been in our responsibility to pass on the biblical truth we have already been given. If we don’t pay attention to that truth, we have no reason to expect a new vision.

LORD, forgive our neglect of your visions from heaven. We resolve to pass your word on to our generation, starting today.