Every Voice in Every Nation

Ezekiel 18:23-32

The last few days have been elemental. They have shown me the depravity which I am capable of, the fleeting nature of emotions, and the positive impact that Christian community can have. All in all however, they have shown me the difference between being able to talk in faith and walking in it, and what it really means to be redeemed. But the essential truth remains that if we dont reckon with the power that God has to change our situation, we are confounded in our faith.

The Following is taken from Priscilla Shirer's book, And We are Changed.

"While God wants us to be like Lazarus, free and raised to walk in the newness of life, the devil wants us to stay in bondage to our old selves and our old ways. Our spiritual adversary is working to resist us every step of the way. Anyone who asks me to autograph one of my books will find that after my signature I write Galatians 5:1. This is my life verse: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, do not let yourselves be burneded again by a yoke of slavery." Are you...
in bondage to your schedule
in bondate to that relationship
in bondage to your career
in bondage to your habit
in bondage to your addiction
in bondage to you debt
in bondage to your fear
in bondage to your guilt?"

I felt I personally was batting a pretty high average of a lot of the things she listed. It was amazing to me how many of these sins had to do with each other, how they drove me to and from God, and how painful failure in these areas related to feelings of sorrow. While reading Shirers' book one question that came to mind was why I kept doing such things. We all have the textbook Sunday school answer that man is depraved and fallen and has a sin nature. I am not detracting from that. It is also tempting to think that one has subconscious self-destructive tendencies, but I cannot really back that up with scripture right now. However something that really spoke to me was Shirer's device of equating spiritual slavery in sin with the physical slavery in America. She talked about how in the wake of the emancipation proclamation, there were three distinct ways that that slaves reacted to it:
1.) The first group were "so exhilarated about emancipation that they packed their bags immediately and lefter their masters...They were willing to risk everything because they believed that freedom was worth it!" (p86).
2.) The second group, the house slaves "became comfortable with their circumstances, and when they got the news about the Emancipation Proclamation, they weren't sure they wante to risk that comfort to go experience freedom. They treasured the security of their current lifestyle over the price they would pay to be free." (p86)
3.) The third group are the slaves who never knew they were free, getting news of the Proclamation two years late. They had spent that time in bondage because their masters had conspired to keep the news of their independence from them.

We are no longer in the third group, we have heard the gospel. Now our lives are divided between walking in freedom and returning to the comforts of bondage. The passage in Ezekiel for today reveals God's heart in this situation. I do not want freedom for us to become a thing to be skeptical or fearful of. Our hearts should seek to walk in faith and freedom, through valleys of the shadow of death, or past streams of living water and green pastures. Let Him restore our souls to freedom.