Ezekiel.
He had a commission by God to be a watchman.
You can read all about it in chapter 3, verses 16-27 of the book that bears his name.
The call on his life was heavy.
God told him, “Whenever you receive a message from Me, warn the people immediately…. If I give you a warning, but you fail to give the message to them, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths. If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep sinning, they will die in their sins but you will have saved yourself because you obeyed Me.”
It was all about obedience to the call of God on his life.
And then I see it.
It’s so hard to miss.
Verse 22, “Then the Lord took hold of me and said, ‘Get up and go out into the valley, and I will speak to you there.’”
In the earlier chapters of Ezekiel we find that he had been stationed, “beside the Kebar river in Babylon.” (1:1, 3:15)
He’d been along a river, but now was asked to, “go out into the valley”, and God would speak to him there.
I thought a lot about this.
Why the valley, God?
It’s lonely there.
It’s uncomfortable there.
It’s seemingly unprofitable there.
And yet it was PRECISELY where God would have him to be.
He had to get him quiet.
He had to get him sequestered from the crowds.
He had to limit the prophets exposure to distractions that might serve to disable him.
And the same could be for you and me.
I know the loneliness, friend.
I know the feeling of unworthiness. Much more than you know.
The valley can often make us feel like maybe He got something wrong.
But He didn’t.
He knows just what He’s doing.
He knows the very things to protect you from, and He’s already created space in the valley to offer divine solutions to the battles you were never created to fight.
I love Ezekiel’s response, too.
“So I got up and went there and I saw the glory of the Lord… And I fell face down on the ground.” (verse 23)
The invitation to a valley experience is always for our benefit.
There’s always something just up ahead more magnificent than we could have ever imagined!!
Keep going, friend!
The valley is the perfect place to hear His voice speaking life to your dry bones.
- Wendy Bender, Inspire Ministries, 2021
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