“You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”
Ezekiel 2:7-8
Ezekiel was a prophet in a time where living by the word of God was very countercultural. Come to think of it, that’s been the case for most of human history. It’s certainly the case today. As such, we can learn a lot from this verse in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel was commanded to speak the word of God regardless of whether the people would listen or not. It wasn’t his job to decide who should or shouldn’t hear the word of God, who would or wouldn’t listen. It was only his job to speak it.
I’ve certainly failed at this before. There are a million excuses not to share the gospel with someone. “Who am I to tell them, they wouldn’t listen to me.” Or “They’re too far gone, they’ll never be willing to change.”
In doing so, we’re taking God’s work into our own hands, deciding who is or isn’ worthy of the gospel, who is or isn’t worth reaching, who will or won’t hear the truth and change their life. The truth is, that’s not our job, it’s not our place, and it’s not our concern. Our concern is to make the truth of Jesus known. It’s not up to us whether a person will listen, whether they will understand, whether they will believe. It is only up to us whether we give them the opportunity.
Basically, we need to mind our business and let God mind his. We need to stay in our lane, so to speak. Our job is to plant the seed. It’s not up to us whether the ground is fertile or the weeds choke it out or whether the birds eat it up. All we can do is plant the seed. So it is what we must do. And we must do it fervently. We must be always planting seeds, never missing an opportunity. After all, you never know where a crop may grow.
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