Ezekiel 44:5
And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.
This morning, it wasn’t a particular verse or phrase that stood out to me. Rather, it was a general theme, which is captured in the verse above: how detail-oriented God is. From chapter 40 onward, God gives Ezekiel the vision of the Temple—measurement after measurement, description after description—so many details that I had to force myself to stay engaged in the reading.
We are often bored by minute details. We want to get right to the point, skipping all the small elements that form the bigger picture. But that’s not how God works. His grand design is so magnificent because every brushstroke is perfectly placed. He works in the small details of everything He does, including your life.
I once saw a beautiful painting. Yet, the closer I got to it, the more distorted it became. It was clear that the picture was made up of thousands of imperfect brushstrokes. This is not how God’s pictures are painted. The closer you get, the more perfect it becomes. Have you ever looked at a leaf? It’s beautiful at face value, but under closer inspection, you notice the intricate design that wasn’t immediately visible. The same is true of snowflakes, and indeed, all of creation bears the fingerprint of our detail-oriented God. Look at your fingers—useful, beautiful. Now look closer at the print. Yours is the only one like it in all the world. So it is with your life. If you look a little closer, you’ll see that all things are working together for your good and His glory.
Don’t despise the chapters in your life filled with small details. It is through these small details that God is painting the big picture. Instead, follow the instruction of today’s verse: “And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee.” What if we "marked well" everything God has done in our lives? What if we remembered every whisper, every notion, every little blessing along the way? I believe we would start to see, like pieces of a puzzle or beams of a building, how everything fits together for His glory, revealing the picture He is painting.
Some Christians observe this by keeping a prayer journal. Personally, when God impresses something on my heart, I make a note so I don’t forget. However you choose to do it, just make sure you "mark well."
Failing to follow this principle has caused many of God’s people to stumble. On Sunday, we looked at Isaac and his mistake in dwelling in Gerar when God instructed him to sojourn there. It was a small detail, but it had significant consequences. What about Moses? He struck the rock twice when God told him to strike it once, and for missing that small detail, he was barred from entering the Promised Land. Think of Joshua, who didn’t follow the instruction to avoid making leagues with the Canaanites. That small detail still affects the nation today. Missing these details doesn’t just mean missing a blessing—it can bring about great harm.
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