Ezekiel 15: When God Lifts His Hand of Blessing

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Ezekiel 15
• 2:08 The Useless Grapevine Analogy
• 3:38 The Skating Rink Lesson
• 5:54 Finding the Rock at Bottom
• 7:27 Closing Prayer and Tomorrow's Preview

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Ezekiel, chapter 15, and today's title is when God Lifts His Hand of Blessing when God lifts his hand of blessing. We're going to get into all this in just a moment, but if you have your Bibles, I want to go ahead and open up with me to Ezekiel, chapter 15. While you're doing that, you will take a moment and like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast you are always my favorites and make sure that you slap a cat today. No, no, no, don't slap a cat today, but do make sure you go to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook man. The more we dig, the more we find, and I love the different entries they do every single day and just the back and forth we get to create on the different comments, the different things, and it's just an honor to be able to do life with everyone in that way. Well, once again, if you have your Bibles, if you want to turn with me to Ezekiel, chapter 15, don't forget the overall theme of Ezekiel is God's promise of renewal, and what God is doing is is he is pointing to the reason why they need renewal in their life, right? So there's all these different things that's going on, and today God is going to continue to show them. This is what's going on, like I need you to see the state of where you are so that you can see why I am doing what is necessary to bring you back to me. It's the idea of when God lifts his hand of blessing. So let's read this together and let's see what we can take away. Okay, you ready?

Speaker 1: 1:50

Ezekiel, chapter 15, verse 1, says this. Then this message came to me from the Lord, son of man. How does a grapevine compare to a tree? How does a grapevine compare to a tree? Is a vine's wood as useful as the wood of a tree? Can its wood be used for making things like pegs to hang pots or pans? No, it can only be used for fuel, and even as fuel, it burns too quickly.

Speaker 1: 2:16

Vines are useless both before and after being put into the fire. This is what the Sovereign Lord says. The people of Jerusalem are like grapevines growing among the trees of the forest. Since they are useless, I have thrown them on the fire to be burned. I will see to it that if they escape from one fire, they will fall into another. Then, when I turn against them, you will know that I am the Lord and I will make the land desolate because my people have been unfaithful to me.

Speaker 1: 2:51

I, the sovereign Lord, have spoken Well. Praise the Lord, short and devastating right. What he is actually saying is he is saying the idea is he's like here's the thing, it's not working out right, you're not really doing great, and sometimes the only way for you to understand who I am is for me to kind of let you have it, just let you go, just go ahead. See how it goes for you, right? It reminds me of a time that I cannot confirm or deny, but it reminds me of a time when I may or may not have taken one of my children roller skating, and that by itself is already hilarious. If you've ever seen me skate, you know I do not belong on a skating rink at all and I had a daughter who she loved being helped.

Speaker 1: 3:35

She loved, you know, just kind of going along, and they had this little thing made out of PVC pipe that kind of looked like a walker, and that's how she would go. She was great. My other daughter, she didn't want the version, basically a version of training wheels, right, she wanted to better do her own thing. And I'm sitting there and I'm trying to help her. I'm trying to help her and I'm like, hey, listen, I want you to better skate, I want you to better to do whatever, but I need to teach you first. I need you to get your balance. And she was like, dad, no, I got this, I got this. So I'm like, okay, babe, then you got this and just let her go. And she did really good for about six feet. And then she just boom, hit right and she gets up and she's you know, she's a little embarrassed, a little stubborn. And so she's like I got this, I don't need your help. And so she goes a little further. Boom, falls down again and she kept falling, falling, can't fall, and god love her. She got it honest, from her father. She's so stubborn that she made it for a little while before. She was probably so black and blue that she couldn't even hardly sit down because she'd been falling down so much. And finally she started to realize, okay, well, when I let go of my dad's hand, I don't know what I'm doing. I need his help, right.

Speaker 1: 4:46

And what God is telling the nation of Israel here is he's saying you really think that you're all that pretty prideful, but you're really not. And he's saying really, what use is a grapevine compared to a tree? Now, that's a little bit different for us. We don't really use grapevines, we use trees. But the idea is a grapevine burned quickly and didn't have a lot of use other than to produce grapes. A tree can do all kinds of things. So he's saying you know, it looks pretty, but it's not really that pretty. It grows fast, but it does not really have a lot of value. And he's saying so what I'm going to do is is I'm going to go and set you on the fire and let's see your work, let's see what you can do, and if you get out of this one, I'm gonna put you in another one, like I'm going to lift my hand of blessing and let's see how you do.

Speaker 1: 5:30

And one of the things I've learned about God is God cares more about our character than he does our comfort, which means he will let us go through seasons where he will say okay, let's see how you're doing, go ahead, because sometimes we have to hit rock bottom only so that we can then understand that he was the rock at the bottom. Get to that very bottom and go oh, that was God this whole time. That wasn't me, that wasn't my cleverness, it was God who was merciful to me the whole time. And then when we get to that place, then we go, oh, can I tell you, that's actually a really good place to be, because then we get to see how good God is, and what God's word is saying today is, is he is saying sometimes I will let you go for a season so you can hit rock bottom, only so then you can find I'm the rock at the bottom. But when we do that, that's when the kindness of the Lord is always amazing and we're able to turn our hearts over to him. Let's pray together right now.

Speaker 1: 6:25

God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you're with us and you're for us. Lord, for some of us right now, we are discovering what rock bottom is. For some of us, maybe you've lifted your hand of blessing so that we will draw closer to you. God, I know in my own life I have noticed that when it feels like everything gets silent, that means it's time for me to lean in and sometimes you will go silent so that I will lean in. It's always because you want us to be closer. I pray today, god, that you'll draw us closer to you. Help us to see you and to know you more. In Jesus' name, we pray amen. And what God's word says in Ezekiel 34, verse 14,. It says I will put my spirit in you and you will live again. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Ezekiel, chapter 16.