Radical Obedience

My devotions this month have been taking me through the book of Ezekiel. I´m ashamed to admit that my knowledge of the major and minor prophets is quite lacking. It has been challenging to read about these men, the ministries that God gave to them, and the difficulties that they faced. It wasn´t until the other day when I came to chapter 24 of Ezekiel that I was floored by three verses.



¨Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead; bind your turban on your head, and put your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips, and do not eat man´s bread of sorrow.¨

´So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died; and the next morning I did as I was commanded.´ Ezekiel 24:17-18

Here we have the prophet Ezekiel, faithfully serving God as His prophet, given the job of relaying messages from God to the children of Israel, and suddenly he finds out that his life is about to become an object lesson. God tells Ezekiel, ¨I am about to take away from you the one you delight in...your wife...but you are not to go into mourning, cry, or even show sorrow.¨
My mind cannot even comprehend the horror and grief that must have ripped through the heart of Ezekiel. The woman he loved was to be taken from him, and it was all because of a lesson to the Children of Israel?
But what I find even more incomprehensible is his recorded response in the Word of God...he obeyed. There was no questioning of God, no bitterness, he says himself ¨I spoke to the people in the morning and at evening my wife died, and the next day I did as I was commanded.¨

That is what I would call radical obedience. The kind of obedience that is ready, simply waiting to follow its Master´s direction.
The Bible doesn´t really tell us any more about this incident in the life of Ezekiel; I wish it did...
What it does tell us is that Ezekiel was a person who radically obeyed his Lord...what kind of person will I be?