Sit and Behold

Ezekiel 37:1

“The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.”

The hand of the Lord came upon Ezekiel and brought him out. The Lord of glory wants to bring you out. He wants to bring you out of your environment, out of your circumstances and situation, out of your business and routine, out from what is preoccupying your time and energy. I don’t know what Ezekiel was doing when the hand of the Lord came upon him. In any case, when the hand of the Lord comes on you, it is time to stop doing what you are doing, no matter how important or urgent it may seem to be, and focus on what the Lord is about to tell you or show you.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (KJV) The NKJV reads, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.” We live in a day where there is no vision. If we are not careful, we get caught up in the linear or natural plane in which the world operates where we only see with our natural eyes and perceive with our natural mind. However, God wants to enlarge our vision to see what He sees. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.”

The Spirit of the Lord set Ezekiel down because God wanted to show him something. To be set down is a position of rest. We often want a quick word from the Lord, a plan of action, or a quick response to an inquiry of the Lord or a prayer request. Before God speaks, He often wants to show us something. The promise of revelation knowledge in I Corinthians 2 begins with “Eye has not seen.” Before God can speak to us in a way we will understand, he needs to show us His perspective. Romans 8:7 says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God.” The mind that operates simply on the linear or natural plane cannot understand the things of God.

There are some things God wants to show us. A picture is worth a thousand words. In Ezekiel’s case, in chapter 37, God wanted to show him the desperate condition of the nation of Israel, “A valley full of dry bones that were scattered everywhere across the ground.” It was only when Ezekiel saw the depth of the hopelessness and depravity of Israel that God was ready to speak a prophetic word through him over the nation. Not only did He speak the word but caused Ezekiel to see in the spirit realm the actual fulfillment of the word, the restoration of Israel, long before they went into captivity.

We must be careful that we do not become so absorbed with the news of the day or so busy in our hectic life that we fail to allow the hand of the Lord to bring us out in the Spirit and set us down to behold things which we cannot even imagine or think that God has prepared for those who love Him.

Andy Clark