On July 31of my thirtieth year,while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. Ezekiel. 1:1 NLT
It was almost certainly Ezekiel’s thirtieth birthday, one that should have been a great day of celebration, a day when, after years of study and preparation, he was finally admitted into his life’s work, the priesthood. But that was never to be. He had been carried off to Babylon with a group of hostages after young king Jehoiachin had (wisely) surrendered to the Babylonians in 598 BC. Here, in this pagan, unclean land, there was no possibility for Ezekiel ever to exercise his priestly calling. His life had come to a dead end.
But there are no dead ends in God’s providence. The world may say it’s a dead end; the world may say it’s over; the world may say there’s nothing more for you to do, but there are no dead ends in God’s providence. It was on that birthday, that bitter birthday, that the Holy Spirit put a whole new vision into Ezekiel’s head. If Ezekiel had thought, and he very well could have, that there was no place to worship God but in that gorgeous temple in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit gave Ezekiel a breath-taking vision of God’s glory right there in Babylon, and he gave Ezekiel a whole new vision of his life. His life was not over, it was just beginning. Ezekiel would declare God’s glorious word right there in Babylon. This is the work of the Spirit, the Creator; he makes all things new. When you think you have come to a dead end, let the Sprit of Life show you a new, transformed way. Let him give you a new vision for what you may be. Our sad, old world will tell you that you just have to do what you have to do, but the Spirit will take your gifts, your talents, your training, and make something new of them. Let the Holy Spirit turn the end into the beginning for you.
Called To Be Transformed 