service for God. The Lord was teaching him that to be really effective for God in our Christian lives, his Word has to become a part of us (Job 23:12). For seven days Ezekiel nursed his anger, until God came and spoke to him again in what was to be the fourth commission (3:16–21).18 Once again Ezekiel is merely the channel through which God’s Word comes: the expression, ‘The word of the Lord came to me’ (3:16; cf. 1:3) is the second of fifty occurrences in the book. There comes
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