How do we work with people who are hard-hearted? Those that don’t want to hear anything you have to say? You’ve tried being nice. They scoff at your “good example.” It seems that no amount of friendliness is making headway. There are some lessons that we can learn from Ezekiel as he was called by God to be a prophet.
God calls Ezekiel to attention and begins to speak to him about the charge He is laying upon him (Ezek. 2:1). The people that Ezekiel was to speak to were a rebellious people. “Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day’” (Ezek. 2:3). It is no different today. There will always be people who are rebellious. We should not be afraid of them or their words (Ezek. 2:6). We are to speak the message even though they will not listen (Ezek. 2:7). It seems counterintuitive to teach or warn those who would not listen. God is just, and we are a part of His justice by warning even those who would not repent, so that they could never be without an excuse.
On two occasions in chapters two and three of Ezekiel, he is commanded by God to eat the message that God was giving him. “Now you, son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you” (Ezek. 2:8). Part of our duty to those who are rebellious is to know the message of God. How are we to warn them if we don’t even know what to say? We can say things in a diplomatic and in a politically correct format, but eventually we have to say, “Thus saith the Lord.”
God also told Ezekiel that he would need to be resolute in his demeanor. “Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads” (Ezek. 3:8). This does not condone any disrespect or ill will to those who would reject the message. However, we are not called to be church mice in our service. “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matt. 10:16).
While we are still very much removed from Ezekiel by time and culture, there are many things that remain the same. There will always be those that hate or dislike the message. God said that they “will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me” (Ezek. 3:7). Our service includes speaking to the hard-hearted. It may not be our first choice, but remember, someone had to tell us.