I am working my way through the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament. I don’t understand it all. I never will. But as in any reading of the Bible, I can hold with both hands what I can comprehend. And then the next time through, there is always something more that I never realized before.
One of our daughters’ Bible study leaders once emphasized to her (and to me), when reading Scripture, to watch for repeated phrases. It is like God is underlining those truths. And if we don’t get it the first time, perhaps the second or third mention will get our attention. In the 48 chapters of Ezekiel which was written in the sixth century B.C., God emphasizes 68 times the phrase “that they shall know that I am the LORD.”
That is the one thing we need to get, to grasp, to understand, no matter the circumstances thousands of years ago, no matter the situation we face today: that we will know that He is the LORD.
Because when we know, acknowledge, and recognize God, nothing remains the same. When we set our eyes on God, we see circumstances with a deeper vision and a different heart. This is no random occurrence, no meaningless disaster, nothing that God cannot redeem. We think about, approach, navigate and respond differently because we believe and trust in the Almighty. God gives us the ability to pivot, stand within, remain faithful to His calling, be in touch with His nudges, flee when necessary, and walk with Him no matter the road, yes, even this way.
Just because it is difficult, impossible and ugly, does not mean that it isn’t right in the center of His will. The ultimate triumph in this situation may be learning to trust God in this. And when we pray, we trust Him more. And in learning to pray and trust, God imparts His strength in us for what we don’t see coming.
As a young man during the Civil War, Thomas lived in the volatile border state of Kentucky where literally neighbors and brothers were often on both sides of the conflict. One evening as he was headed alone down the hilly curving dirt road on his way home from the fields, he heard a Confederate contingent coming toward him, indeed just about to come around the bend. His life was at stake for the space of just several yards. LORD, help me, he whispered as he scurried behind a large rock in a clump of trees (and in the shadow of God’s hand.) Instead of cowering in fear, he called out with a loud and courageous voice, “C’mon boys, we’ve got ‘em now!”
Thinking it was an ambush, the soldiers scattered, running for their lives in the opposite direction. And Thomas walked on home.
When we pray, God says, “Now watch this.” Because what we see as an interruption, or pothole, or impossible task, God transforms into divine appointments and sacred encounters that He lined up not for our fear, but for His glory.
In prayer, God translates circumstances into His mercy, His covering, His revealing, and His redeeming. When we walk into the day with Him, God fills us with a sense of wonder, not just when we see His tangible hand, but what else do we miss because we are not looking…or not praying?
And they shall know that I am the LORD. 68 times. What does it take for us to realize that? The last four words of that book says it all. The LORD is there. Ezekiel 48. 35
Thomas saw that truth before his eyes on a dirt road. And on that reality, we can stake our lives.
Those little glimpses of His Presence are not just for us to tuck in a drawer, but to share. We can never know who will be impacted not just by our prayers, but the stories that God has given each one of us, even on the most ordinary days.
With God we shall do valiantly. It is He who will tread down our foes. Psalm 108. 13 Anything we fear, both real and imagined. There is a different reality going on here.
Thomas’s story always has touched me. God is here. We can know Him. We can trust Him. Even when we cannot understand, He is working still. Even when we have no idea what is coming around the bend, God is with me too.
I heard that story long ago from my grandmother. Thomas was her father – the great grandfather I never met. I don’t know much about him, but he spoke to his children what he had seen and how he knew the faithfulness of God. That is the one thing I know about him, the legacy that he left.
We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deed of the LORD, and His might, and the wonders that He has done…to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God. Psalm 78. 4-7
In praying, things cannot remain as they are, nor can we. It is not that we open the door for God to do something, but instead, He invites us in.
What story is God unfolding before us today? What is the one thing we can pray? That we would know that He is the Lord. Everything revolves around that.
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