In Too Deep

*originally composed on 12/2/03*

Ezekiel 47:1-6 [NIV] Go get your Bible for this one…believe me, it’s worth it!

I happened upon this text when I was finally getting ready for sleep at 4:30am after working on a paper. If I didn't know that God oversaw every area of my existence, I would have thought that it was pure chance—maybe even luck—that I found this passage. I mean, Ezekiel isn't exactly on heavy rotation in my Bible readings and I literally had to prop my eyes open read, but God KNEW that I needed to get this in my Spirit! (He does that a lot... gotta luv Him!)

The text starts off with a river running under the temple in one of Ezekiel’s visions. In v.3, he was led into the river—first at wading level, then further in as the water grew progressively higher. OK, that’s cool but check out the KEY part that hit me hard enough, as deliriously sleepy as I was, to have a serious light bulb moment. Every time the man led Ezekiel in, what did he do? He first measured a specific distance and THEN proceeded forward. See you didn't feel me right there: we can look at this as God being right there in front of us, directing our steps and knowing precisely how far to take us at each point in time!! Even in v.5, it tells us that the tape measure went out yet again, "but now it was a river that I could not cross". Of course God did this intentionally but let's observe that on the whole journey, Ezekiel remained obedient and followed—even up to waist-level—until it became impossible to continue. How many times have you felt like you just couldn’t go any further? Well that’s a once-a-semester occurrence for me (coincidentally around final exams), so I had to keep reading to find out how this was gonna go down.

Now here's the kicker (v. 6): the man [presumably God] asked "...do you see this?" (referring to Ezekiel’s current predicament). And the word says "Then He led me back to bank of the river."

Am I the only one tripping out on this, here?!! God stopped and showed him his breaking point, THEN took him back to the shore!!! I've always heard the cliché “God will never give you more than you can bear”, but in the wee hours of the morning at a time when I felt that I couldn't handle any more pressure, this Scripture led me back to the shore of renewed faith. Be encouraged my sisters and brothers in Christ—we'll each make it back to the shore soon enough!

Stay blessed
pVI