responsibilities.

today i'm taking a look at one of my FAVORITE books in the bible- Ezekiel

"20 Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die." i think this is a pretty straight-forward verse, right? God says that if a good person embraces what's evil, then God's just gonna test him with evil himself. it's not like being put to the test by Satan, because at least God will give you the tools needed to fight him off; no, this is scarier because it's God testing YOU. but then the second part of the verse is even more scary: "Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood." 


the admirable thing about Ezekiel is that he didn't run from his task like Jonah did. because both he and Jonah were prophets, and they were both called by God to go to Israel (and Nineveh) to warn them about their wickedness, but Jonah thought he could outsmart God and run from him. oops, big mistake on his part, and God had him swallowed him up by a whale. on the other hand- Ezekiel knew he was powerless and had no authority over these people he was supposed to go to. so God equipped him not just with words, but the Holy Spirit. the third being of the trinity. "14 The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord upon me."

my prayer for these upcoming days is to not fear the thorns and scorpions i live amongst with (reference to verse 6), but to ask God for the holy spirit to come and intercede.