Ezekiel 40

Ezekiel begins to share a vision that God has revealed to him.  I love how this story begins.  Realize they are now “twenty-five” years in exile – sometimes we think God moves too slowly but in reality we have no idea just how patient is the God we serve.  He does not work on your time or mine.  He works on His time.  Check out what Ezekiel says as he begins this chapter recording the vision God is giving him: “God touched me”.  I love that.  Reminds me of the song I sang many times when younger: “He touched me, oh, He touched me, and oh the joy the floods my soul.  Something happened and now I know, He touched me and made me whole”.  God is in the touching business.  He did it to Ezekiel and many others in the Bible, but He does it every day to you, me and those around us.  The question is – do we recognize His touch.  Often God’s touch is gentle, a small tap on the shoulder, a gentle push to get us moving.  Sometimes we ignore it – we don’t want to do what God is encouraging us to do so we pretend it didn’t come from Him or wasn’t actually a touch at all.  Do you avoid God’s touch – His leading in your life?  God desires us to be connected and paying attention to what He is up to.  He wants to use us to make a difference in the world we live in.  Life is not a vacation….contrary to what some of us think….God has serious work for us to do here while we breathe and take up space.  So we need to be tuned in and plugged in to the source and get direction from Him.  He gives Ezekiel the details of the Temple and courtyard area – down to the direction rooms face and the size and space involved.  Don’t ever get the idea that God doesn’t have a plan – detailed and well designed.  He does and we need to seek Him so we can understand what that plan is.  Will He always share the details in a vision like He does here with Ezekiel?  Well it doesn’t always work like that in my life.  But I know God does have a plan and I find He often gives me pieces of it along the way – probably because He knows I am not paying attention well enough to remember more than the next step anyway.  God is touching you – can you feel it?  Do you recognize His touch?  Oh how much He wants us to know that still quiet voice and that very gentle touch.  Much more fun than when He has to touch us with a 2X4 to the side of the head.  So pay attention, plug in, and let God touch you today!