15 June 2005 Devotion for Today “Wild Foxes” Ezekiel 13:1-3
You may have heard the story of the country farm boy who saw a vision with the letters P.C. written in the sky. Excitedly, he ran to tell his pastor and to get his advice on what the vision meant. “I know what P.C. means!” exclaimed the country boy, “P.C. means Preach Christ!” The pastor, hearing the young man’s enthusiasm, suggested that he preach his first sermon the following Sunday. The young man gave it all he could, but he was unable to connect with his listeners. Evaluating the sermon, the pastor said, “Son, I am not so sure P.C. means Preach Christ. I think what God meant was Plough Corn!”
It seems as though everybody has their own idea of what it means to have God speak to them. But how do we really know? Many times I have people approach me telling me, “God told me such and such” when every other indicator shows me that their argument for doing what they really want to do is weak, so they add “God told me” to the statement to keep me from analyzing it or challenging them on what they said. Once I heard of a woman who said it was God’s will to divorce her husband. Another said it was God’s will to quit their job and leave his young family in financial impoverishment to follow the Nascar circuit- doing contract body work and repairs. It often amounts to no more than justifying what they wanted to do- following some spurious dream. I am not discounting sincere people who are really striving to know God’s will. But finding God’s will is never attached to spurious ideas or used to mask-over motives. Finding God’s will is never found when our hearts, or our feet are in two different camps. Discerning God’s direction never creates or presents a distorted view of reality, and it always is consistent with His Word. Yes, there is always a certain amount of risk involved, but that risk, working alongside of God’s Word and prayer, and impressions of His Word in preaching- is the pattern we find in the Bible concerning knowing if God is speaking to our hearts. Many times we only get glimpses or snatches which warm our hearts to His leading, and admittedly it is not always clear. But that why we must take caution to make certain that the voice that we hear is God’s and not our own.
Ezekiel challenged the people who were listening to a multitude of prophets who were leading them astray. Here is what he said in Ezekiel 13:1-4: “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ‘Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of
I haven’t seen foxes in the desert, but I have seen foxes in the countryside around Weeksville. And I can tell you that they run all over the place. You never see where they set down on any one thing. That is the nature of wild animals. True, they are most beautiful to look at when you get the rare chance to see one. And they are clever- or at least have the reputation of being so. But their cleverness doesn’t keep them from being “road kill” along the highway. Often they are disease-ridden and unhealthy. The prophet Ezekiel said that the false prophets are wild- wild in the view of not making a full commitment. True, they expect others to make full commitments of their lives to what they want them to make, but they never come down full on one side or another. That is because emotionally, or even with their feet, they are all over the place.
Where are your feet today? Are you like the fox, running through the fields and the wilderness- never setting down to make a commitment of your life? The spurious, whimsical society in which we live breeds this kind of animal. Settle down today and make a full commitment of your life to Jesus Christ. Then you will know who speaks for God today. Have a blessed day!
No comments:
Post a Comment