Ezekiel was the dour sort, but given his task, he almost had to be. During his lifetime his nation was being systematically dismantled by its enemies, both foreign and domestic, and the people didn’t seem to understand that a great deal of this they were bringing on themselves.
Ezekiel’s job was to do one simple thing: Tell them the truth. “They are obstinate and stubborn,” the Book says of them (Ezekiel 2:4). They were rebellious and unlikely to listen, but from the perspective of what Ezekiel needed to do, none of this mattered. His job was to tell the truth. “Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.” (3:11)
For Ezekiel and his nation the time for political correctness was over. It was time to lay out reality to these people. If they were going to be hard-headed, Ezekiel had to be more so (3:8-9). The moral fabric of the nation was deteriorating, weakening their will to maintain their sovereignty and culture. It was time to speak out and hope the people would listen and live, and if not, then he was to at least be strong enough to weather their ridicule and abuse.
In a time when some view the love of God and country as a hayseed aberration, and where the colors of the flag are scorned in some quarters as a provocation, saying nothing out of fear of offending is an act of apathy. When we sit down and shut up at such stunts, we show our unconcern about the social and cultural environment, effectively surrendering the duty to speak the truth in love.
The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is apathy.
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