SIT WHERE THEY SIT!

SIT WHERE THEY SIT!

Ezek 3:15

15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.

          Ezekiel comes to those that have been carried away and sees their condition. “And I sat there overwhelmed” is the rendering of the American Standard Version. The idea is that of gaining perspective by placing oneself in the same condition. The familiar expression of “walking in another’s shoes” communicates the same idea.

          We are spoiled and prejudicial in our opinions of those who sit in ignorance and sin. Other lands and cultures are foreign and strange to us and this prompts great fear in those who would share the gospel. We need to “sit where they sit” so as to feel their pain, smell their smells and understand their peculiarities. The experience caused Ezekiel to be astonished, stunned or made speechless.

          Nothing changes our preconceived notions like a dose of pure reality! Once Ezekiel became acclimated to the condition of his audience he received a command from God to minister to them.

Ezek 3:17-19

17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

          Seeing a need makes you immediately responsible. If we sound out a warning then we have cleansed our hands. If we remain silent in the face of understood need then we are liable for their blood. It is an astonishing burden. So, in what ways can we be like Ezekiel today? How can I “sit where they sit” and understand their problems? How can I make a difference? Perhaps the following verse will give us an answer.

James 1:27

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Dear Lord, please help me to see and sense the needs of others today. Help me to become personally employed in meeting those needs. Help me to remain unspotted by the world. AMEN