Ezekiel 3:10–11
Most of us have had a moment when we knew exactly what God wanted us to do, and we still hesitated. Not because we didn’t believe him. Because we didn’t feel ready.
That’s where Ezekiel found himself. God gave him a vision of a scroll, and on it were written words of lamentation and mourning and woe. Then God told him to eat it. Not read it. Eat it. “Feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it” (Ezekiel 3:3, ESV). Ezekiel obeyed, and the scroll was sweet as honey in his mouth. But the message inside it was bitter. It was a warning of judgment for a people who had turned away from God, and Ezekiel had to carry it in his own body before he ever spoke a word of it.
Here’s what makes this different from a simple call to obedience. God wasn’t just handing Ezekiel information. He was asking him to know this message in his heart and feel the weight of it in his gut, and only then to speak it faithfully, whether anyone wanted to hear it or not. “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears… and speak to them… whether they hear or refuse to hear” (Ezekiel 3:10–11, ESV). The people Ezekiel was sent to were stubborn and rebellious. This was never going to be an easy assignment.
If we’re being honest, most of us have felt the weight of that same tension. We know someone who needs to hear something true, and we know it might not be received well. So we stay quiet. We tell ourselves we’re not the right person, that we don’t have the words, that someone else is better equipped for this kind of thing.
But notice what Ezekiel didn’t have going into this. He didn’t have a strategy. He didn’t have confidence in his own strength. What he had was the word of God inside him and the power of God’s Spirit lifting him up to stand and speak. That’s still how it works. God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called.
You don’t need a specific skill to serve him. You don’t need a title or a platform. Paul put it simply: we’re called to present ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship (Romans 12:1). That’s it. He’s the one doing the work through you.
This doesn’t have to be a planned event or a difficult conversation you’ve been dreading. It can be as simple as answering honestly the next time a coworker asks why you go to church, or telling a neighbor going through something hard how Jesus has actually shown up in your life this year.
Jesus said to go and make disciples, teaching them everything he commanded (Matthew 28:19–20). He didn’t say to wait until it felt comfortable. The scroll is still sitting in front of us. The only question is whether we’re willing to eat it.
