Stunned

I was watching one of those reality TV shows where belligerent speeders are being arrested. A 17-year-old young woman was pulled over for speeding and possible intoxication. She adamantly refused to cooperate with any request the officer made, let alone the request to get out of her car. Finally having had enough of her defiance, the officer removes his taser and informs her that she will be tased if she doesn’t get out of the car.

The driver still laughs at the officer and even says “right, your gonna tase me. Sure go ahead.” Warning her one last time the officer tases her when she fails to comply. Stunned, she is dragged from the car and falls face down on the ground.

Ezekiel had a vision by the river Kebar. In chapter one he spent 27 verses describing the experience. Finally he declares, “That is what it was like. It turned out to be the Glory of God.” (MSG) Having had that epiphany, stunned he falls on his face to the ground; an instant response to the sovereign God.

What does God have to do to you, to me, to get us to comply to His authority, His lordship, His dominion over our lives, our ministries, our work?

Who are you more like, Ezekiel or the 17-year-girls? When God exercises His sovereignty, do we recognize His authority and respond? Or do we force Him to use the “taser” on us?

May this be a year in which we avoid the “Taser.”