"And you shall know that I am the Lord"

As I read through the book of Ezekiel I encounter the words “and you shall know that I am the Lord” often in its prophesies. Most of the time it’s unfortunately found at the end of a wrathful prophesy against the nation of Israel or its enemies. The passage usually contains a word from the Lord speaking of disaster and turmoil that will come upon those people because of their waywardness. It’s sad to me that the way God got through to the people of Israel then and the way He gets through to us today is often found in the bad stuff that happens where he aims to lead us back to His side and His ways. Why are we a people that stray and confuse our need for joy with temporary happiness, confuse our hope with money and material wealth, confuse our longings with depression and failure, confuse our love with lustful desires, and confuse our source of life with our humanity, food and heart beat. We are so fallen.

I would love to see the actual number of times the phrase “and you shall know that I am the Lord” is recorded in the precious pages of God’s Word. I would like to see the comparison of when those occurrences are positive because God heaps blessings on a people following His heart and when it unfortunately occurs because of backsliding and a need for the people of Israel to come out of their overgrown humanity and enter back into the throne room. When they leave a life of worshipping and honoring God and turn towards their human ends, their human needs and wants, is when they must in God’s great wrath be turned back and given again a heart of flesh.

Another thing that interests me is the “heart of flesh” given in Ezekiel. “I will remove from you your heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” Ezekiel 36:26-27. Usually in scripture the flesh carries a negative connotation that we must learn to die to and live for Jesus. The interesting part of this passage to me reveals the great qualities of the flesh that our Creator God established. In this passage the flesh takes on permeability. It reveals its great quality to be wounded, to be afflicted so easily by the pain on the outside of what it protects. The flesh here refers to their need to feel again, to open up their lives and allow pain and love to flow back through. God removes their hearts of stone that are calloused and gives them a heart that hurts and fights to heal from the brokenness on the outside that can only wholly come from God.

I hope God gives me and you a heart of flesh. I pray that God will reveal Himself in moments of our lives so that we “shall know” when we’re following. I pray that those encounters with our Risen Savior and Creator God would be much more significant and often than how the Israelites most of the time forcedly returned. But above all, I pray that our God would show you His eternal effort to take you to Himself as His own and show you He will never give up and He will never ultimately leave you brokenhearted if you abide in Him. No matter what side of the fence you fall when God reveals Himself and declares that you shall know that I am the Lord through this, it still should be welcomed and celebrated that the God of all mercy and grace loves you deeply and holistically enough to call you to Himself and His victory. Celebrate what God has to offer and reveal to you today.