Ezekiel 3:4-11. God's words to Ezekiel as he sends him to prophesy to the people of Israel. God says get up and go, Ezekiel, I am sending you not to a foreign people whose language and ways you do not understand, but to your own people - Israel. The irony is, though, that a foreign people would listen to you, and Israel probably will not because they are hard of heart and head. So they will ignore and scoff at you, but I have made your face and forehead hard like flint against them. Do not let their scorn affect you, I am giving you the strength to endure it. Also, listen carefully to everything I tell you to tell them - receive it into your heart and ears, then you will be able to say to them "Thus says the Lord... " whether they will listen or not.

This is kind of a kick in the pants for me today! I have been the recipient of this meanness, this scorn, when trying to speak the truth to people, even my own people, even my own family. It is so very hurtful and causes me to want to stop - to just give up and retreat into my own world, thinking "Who am I to try to get through to people who don't want to hear the truth? And why should I suffer their scorn and meanness?" But God's words to Ezekiel are all about that - get up and go to your own people! But first, listen to what I have to say to you and really hear it, then, do not be afraid to speak it. They probably won't listen, and will be cruel because they are stubborn and stiff-necked, but he wants me to do it anyway! And it is true that the scorn does not hurt so much anymore. Once you suffer through it once, you realize that the people being mean to you are doing it because they are scared and do not know what to do. God is trying to tell them what to do, but they often won't listen. That's okay, he will keep trying, and he will keep using people willing to listen to him to get through to them.

I have also found that "foreigners," that is, people not in my family - strangers, non-believers - are often much more willing to listen with a kind ear and an open heart than are my own people. It is so weird that the people closest to me are the most stiff-necked! (God must feel the same way, haha!)

Another lesson for me here, though, is discernment. God says listen first to what I am saying and take it into your heart. Then you go and speak. There are many, many voices spouting what they swear is the truth right now. Anyone called to prophesy must first be sure that it is God's Word they are hearing and speaking. So before saying anything, I must listen, pray, discern, and be sure, in my heart, that I am speaking God's Truth.