Ezekiel 12 begins by God telling His prophet that he [Ezekiel] lives in the "midst of a rebellious house." The heartbreaking part of the opening is where God says they have "eyes to see" and "ears to hear" but they use neither. This group of individuals have decided to enjoy their time of doing as they wish and really have not given any thought about future implications.
That lack of seriousness is exposed, specifically, in verse 22. The people of Judah had created a proverb within which to couch their complacency -- "The days are prolonged and every vision fails." This short quip would have been a slang one-liner that would have produced laughter for those that heard it because it was an inside joke. In essence, they are saying something like this -- "Okay, God. We've heard all about this judgment that's coming because you've given visions to some people. It's not happened as they said and it's not going to happen as they've said."
God responds to this in verse 23 by changing their proverb into something a bit more ominous -- "The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision." He is telling those whom He chose as His own people that His time-table is not like theirs, but the day of reckoning has come. When Judah was finally over-run by the Chaldeans, they came to realize, as it says in verse 20, "that I am the LORD."
You are probably wondering what nugget of truth is buried in this dark talk of destruction for rebellion. Well, there are several; and I will highlight a few below:
(1) Rebellion does not happen suddenly but is a myriad of "graduallys" that are ignored until they rise up as a great suddenly. Susan Scott in her books Fierce Conversations and Fierce Leadership hammer this theme, and she is right. Think about it -- did scientists know that Mt. St. Helens was going to erupt? Yes, small indications were noticed and warning was given; however, some folks heard these for years and had become calloused to them. So, when the eruption actually happened, the survivors that did not listen stated they had no clue the eruption was coming. It was a string of gradual signs that were ignored which led to a "sudden" eruption. Rebellion is the same way -- one step at a time until the slide is so large that you cannot believe it has happened.
(2) Our view of God is not a proper one. We have a view that God is powerful and not the Almighty, Sovereign of the universe. We want Him to bow and bend to our every whim instead of realizing that He is the Creator. Do you disagree? Okay, answer this question -- "when do you pray?" If we are honest, we pray when we want something; and that is not the Biblical view of prayer. I will paraphrase something I read the other day -- "when you create your own universe, you get to call the shots. Until that happens, you don't." How true! We, will say that we do not believe this, but every person, as their actions and attitudes demonstrate, believe the world revolves around them. My two-year old boy certainly believes that and he is in for a shock when his sister is born in 7 weeks. We need to exhibit the love of Christ into this world instead of existing to love ourselves.
(3) Living life God's way is not as hard as we make it out to be. While the Christian life is a constant struggle of giving up our way to live as He prescribes, it is filled with joy and peace that nobody can understand. Matthew 11:28-30 tell us that through Christ we can "find rest for your souls," and that "His burden is light." We are the ones that complicate things by trying to rationalize our wants and desires instead of yielding to His wants and desires for our life.
In summary, rebellion is a heart issue because either your heart is set on you or it is set on Him. Your choice makes all the difference. Be looking for all the "graduallys" that appear in your life to prevent them from becoming a "suddenly." Pray and ask God to show you what aspects of your life need modification so that you can be a beneficial representative of Him in this world today.
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