You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. – Ezekiel 2:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 25, 2014): Ezekiel 2

Former astronaut Ed Lu, a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions and an extended stay on the International space Station, has recently argued that the chances of a collision between the earth and a city destroying asteroid is much higher than was previously thought. And part of the problem is the small size of the asteroid that would be required to level a city. NASA currently monitors space for earth changing asteroids of 0.65 miles (or 3,432 feet) in diameter that could come into close contact with our planet. But it would only take an object with a diameter of 131 feet to level a city. The problem is that we have had no idea how to monitor space for such a small object – and space would seem to be well populated with this size of rock. Since we don’t know how to find these objects, much less what to do with them when we do find them, then why worry about them. We might as well ignore the possibility until such a time as we have found a solution to the problem.

So Ed Lu is now talking about these objects because he thinks he has a solution to the problem. So now he needs public opinion to swing in his direction concerning the detection of these smaller space rocks so that he can finance his solution. But it also reveals what seems to be a disturbing trend, at least to me, in the public statements we make. Politically, scientifically, and spiritually there appears to be a trend to speak messages that are expedient rather than true. It seems that in all areas of life we are ignoring the small rocks of life that we don’t know what to do with. In the area where I spend most of my time (the spiritual arena) it is revealed in a reluctance to talk about what is true because it is not truth that the people around us really want to hear. We have become the Pied Pipers of our society, just telling the people what it is that we think that they want to hear. After all, what could we do with the truth even if we did know it?

Yet, knowing the truth has consistently driven us toward imaginative solutions. Repeatedly throughout history, knowing the uncomfortable truth is what it has taken us to allow us to move in the right direction. But if we don’t know, we can’t fix.

So God tells Ezekiel to give God’s message to the people, even if they aren’t listening. If the truth is hidden from the exiles, it won’t be because they haven’t been told; it will be because they were unwilling to listen. And we stand in the same situation. The prophets of our society needs to be willing to speak the uncomfortable truth -  a truth that might surprise us from a God who loves us – all of us – dearly. But if we don’t understand that, it must not be because we have never been told. It has to be because we were unwilling to listen.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 3