Just when we think it’s over. It’s not.
In the later chapters of the book of Ezekiel, the Israelites were at their lowest point in history. They were not only exiled to Babylon, their sacred temple had been destroyed. In the natural, things looked bleak.
But in Ezekiel chapter 47, God gives Ezekiel a vision of a new temple, and in the vision, an angel serves as Ezekiel’s tour guide.
A small trickle of water was streaming from under the south side of the new temple. And as Ezekiel and his tour guide went eastward, the water went from ankle deep to knee deep to water so deep you could not walk through it.
This water from the temple eventually made its way into the Dead Sea, a sea so rich in salt and in minerals no fish or sea creature could survive. But then Ezekiel saw something strange happening.
Instead of the Dead Sea contaminating the fresh water from the temple, the fresh water from the temple transformed the Dead Sea water. The Dead Sea was now teeming with life.
“Son of man, do you see this?” the angel asks Ezekiel.
Do you see that life is coming out of the temple? A temple, which in the natural, was destroyed. During what seemed to be the bleakest moment in Ezekiel’s life and Israel’s history, hope began to flow into a sea of hopelessness.
Talk about bleak.
The weekend following the accident, as we sat in the waiting room, one of our friends had an idea. It’s Sunday. Why not bring worship into the waiting area? After all, who better to comfort the downcast than the downcast?
We sang, we prayed, and like the river in Ezekiel’s vision, hope began to flow in a hopeless waiting area.
