Sometimes God Gives You What You Want and It's Not Good
In Ezekiel 24, the prophet was given a case of Mutness from God, with a sign that it would not leave until the day the city fell. All the way back in chapter three, he spoke about it: Ezekiel 3:26–27 (ESV) And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house. Later in chapter 24: Ezekiel 24:27 (ESV) On that day your mouth will be opened to the fugitive, and you shall speak and be no longer mute. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD.” In Ezekiel 33, we come to the fulfillment of that promise as his lips are loosed to declare God's Word to the exiles headed off to Babylon. Ezekiel 33:21–22 (ESV) In the twelfth year of our exile, in the...