The Helpline

One Year Bible: November 16

Ezekiel 33:1-34:31

The Helpline

Would you like a computer to drive your car for you?

I personally, would not like to be driven off a cliff by a little voice named Siri who says, “Redirecting. Redirecting”

Much of my life is spent using all kinds of computer programs as a teacher, and the word “Glitch” and computers go hand in hand. Not only are they fallible but they can get viruses and have outside forces that can derail you quickly (like weather and internet service).

The other night I was purchasing a two-night stay at a hotel for a getaway to “cool fall weather”. I had been watching this particular deal for quite a while and it was saved under this particular travel program. As I went to purchase it, the program switched me to their credit card add, encouraging me to get their “gold” card and get $100.00 off. When it circled back around to my choice (where I had already put in all of my information) it somehow switched me to a different hotel that I had never considered.

I literally sat at my computer at the “HELP CENTER” for over TWO HOURS. It was about $450.00, but more than that it was WRONG!

I have never been a fan of wrong even as a child. I can remember being at church camp as a high schooler, and it was talent show week. There were a group of girls who wanted to sing and I was about the only pianist, so I was being recruited to play for them. But, they started to be rude to a new girl at camp, telling her that she couldn’t sing on key. So, they wouldn’t let her join them. I decided to prove my point by letting them know that I would just go hang with her so she wouldn’t be alone. Long story short… she got to sing, so I played.

This passage is about “The Watchman who sees the enemy coming after the weak sheep” and sounds the alarm to warn the people. That was Ezekiel’s calling and it is ours also. God told Ezekiel that he would hold him responsible for not warning them to repent.

“The Help Center” that I sat at for over two hours just kept passing me on to different people. Not one of them actually called the hotel or offered assistance. Now, my friends, I realize that was just money and a two-night stay.

But, what about a person’s destiny and an ETERNAL STAY? How upset do we get about that? Am I a watchman for others around me calling them lovingly back to the shepherd and actually being “present on the line”? I pray so!

God’s next message that came to Ezekiel was about shepherds, the leaders of the flock. Here is what He says, “What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep?.... You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended to the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost.” (34:1-6)

There is much more to this passage, and it is worth a re-read. Like the car being driven by a computer, the church is not called to be, “Redirecting. Redirecting.” There is but ONE DIRECTION. ONE WAY. It is unaltered by the latest and greatest ways of man.

The shepherd doesn’t even know the word LOST anymore… We are just “Redirecting. Substituting. Finding Our Selves.”

The sheep have gone from GRAZING to just GAZING as well.

To be cared for by a shepherd you need to be placed under their care. That’s a little difficult from your couch through an online worship service and a remote control surfing the channels.

SUBSTITUTIONS.

There is the Watchman that is to be WATCHING, and The Shepherd who is to be Shepherding.

And, the HOLY GOD who is to be followed because He alone is Sovereign.

It was easier when we just talked about idols, wasn’t it?

But then we must stop and ask ourselves the question that God is asking Ezekiel, “Will you protect my people that don’t know better from danger?”

“Will you go after the lost?”

“Will you be watching from the wall?”

“Will you speak? Will you stand?”

When people get in a jam, will you be willing and available at “The HELPLINE?”

“They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.” (Ez. 34: 6)