We almost never talk about the humanity of God. He is certainly not human in the sense that we are flawed and sinful, but, being His ultimate creation, we find ourselves embodying His attributes in our everyday lives to some tiny extent. And so He ends up being the ultimate example to us of what humanity is meant to be. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the book of Ezekiel.

I’ve been working through Ezekiel for a Sunday School class I’ve been teaching at my home church, and it is amazing how Ezekiel himself becomes a mirror of what God is going through in punishing Israel. Ezekiel cannot speak anything but judgment; Yahweh will now only punish His people: He has turned from them. Ezekiel’s wife dies suddenly; Yahweh’s wife, Jerusalem, is slain by her enemies. Ezekiel will not mourn her death; Yahweh will not mourn Zion’s destruction. Ezekiel is given to see the blinding light of the magnificent future God has for His people; Yahweh strains towards that Future when He and His bride will be one.

God does what He has to do. He sees both the painful situation that His people are in as well as the outcome. And, if He’ll forgive the anthropomorphism, He grits His teeth, bows His head and pushes on through. And so must I, because, as I look to where I must go here on earth, I have difficulties to go through. Calling people I don’t know is not my favorite job by any means, but it must be done. And so it shall be, because my Example has not only shown me how, but provided the strength to do so.

For more on Ezekiel see: Lessons from a Mad Prophet