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Ministry After God Takes a Beloved Wife · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us again on the podcast as we
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  Speaker 1: enter the final weeks of our Bible reading in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty four. Let me know what you think. I'd love
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  Speaker 1: to hear your thoughts. Did you join us this year.
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  Speaker 1: Did it encourage you to hang with it in getting
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  Speaker 1: through the whole Bible in twenty twenty four. Perhaps this
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  Speaker 1: was your first time reading the whole Bible in a year.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe you started out and dropped out, whatever happened, I'd
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  Speaker 1: love to know how we can better serve your commitment
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  Speaker 1: to reading the whole Bible in twenty twenty five, we
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  Speaker 1: may do this again. I thought the Navigator's Bible Reading
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  Speaker 1: plan really works well as a substructure to organize our
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  Speaker 1: Bible questions throughout the year and to map them onto
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  Speaker 1: our current reading. But you tell me. Email me your
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  Speaker 1: thoughts at ask pastor John at Desiring Good at dot
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  Speaker 1: org and put Bible reading in the subject line. I'd
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  Speaker 1: love to hear what you have to say speaking of
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  Speaker 1: using that plan to structure our Bible questions. If you
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  Speaker 1: are reading the Bible together with us this year. This
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  Speaker 1: weekend we read Ezekiel twenty four to twenty eight, and
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  Speaker 1: in those chapters we meet a stunning text, one that
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  Speaker 1: leads to this question from a listener named Matthew. Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: thank you for this podcast and for your faithful model
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  Speaker 1: of ministry over the years as a young preacher. There's
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  Speaker 1: a text in the Old Testament that stops me in
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  Speaker 1: my tracks and makes me pause in my Bible reading
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  Speaker 1: every time, and it's the account of the death of
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  Speaker 1: Ezekiel's beloved wife in Ezekiel twenty four, Verses fifteen to eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: There are things in this text that do not relate,
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  Speaker 1: that seem too specific to translate broadly. He's a prophet,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not. He was called to not weep over his wife.
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  Speaker 1: That's for him specifically for some reason. But verse eighteen
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  Speaker 1: hits me hard every time. Quote so I spoke to
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  Speaker 1: the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died.
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  Speaker 1: Quote I am married to a woman I dearly love.
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  Speaker 1: And there's something about the faithfulness of Ezekiel's ministry enduring
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  Speaker 1: even though he had been told to expect great personal loss.
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  Speaker 1: There's something compelling about his impending loss, and yet is
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  Speaker 1: willing to suppress on in the ministry. What of this
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  Speaker 1: story transfers to our ministries today?
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  Speaker 2: I think the short answer to Matthew's question is that
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  Speaker 2: God's pattern for ministry, both in the Old and New Testaments,
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  Speaker 2: is that the suffering and the losses of his servants
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  Speaker 2: is an essential part of God's judging and saving work
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  Speaker 2: among his people. The death of Ezekiel's wife, I think
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  Speaker 2: is in the same category as the afflictions that the
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  Speaker 2: apostle Paul endured for the good of the churches. So
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  Speaker 2: Paul gives the principle in Second Corinthians one six when
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  Speaker 2: he says, if we are afflicted, it is for your
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  Speaker 2: comfort and salvation. So the affliction of the apostles is
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  Speaker 2: designed by God for the comfort and salvation of his people.
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  Speaker 2: That's true in the Old Testament, I think among the prophets,
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  Speaker 2: it's true. In the New Testament. I think it's true today.
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  Speaker 2: A wounded pastor is a good shepherd or tewod Corinthians
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  Speaker 2: four twelve. So death is at work in us, but
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  Speaker 2: life in you. Paul says, that's the pattern. So God
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  Speaker 2: ordained that the death of Ezekiel's wife, the delight of
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  Speaker 2: his eyes, the incredible requirement that he not weep, would
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  Speaker 2: be a sign to Israel of the destruction of the temple,
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  Speaker 2: the delight of their eyes, and their own departure into
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  Speaker 2: captivity without any genuine tears of repentance. So here's Ezekiel
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  Speaker 2: twenty four to fifteen. The word of the Lord came
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  Speaker 2: to me, son of man, Behold, I'm about to take
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  Speaker 2: the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke.
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  Speaker 2: Yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your
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  Speaker 2: tears run down. So I spoke to the people in
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  Speaker 2: the mourning, and at evening my wife died. And on
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  Speaker 2: the next morning I did as I was commanded. And
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  Speaker 2: then Ezekiel gives them the meaning of this sign. He says,
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  Speaker 2: thus says the Lord, Behold, I will profane my sanctuary.
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  Speaker 2: The pride of your power, the delight of your eyes,
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  Speaker 2: and the yearning of your soul. And your sons and
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  Speaker 2: your daughters, whom you left behind shall fall by the sword,
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  Speaker 2: And you shall do as I have done. You shall
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  Speaker 2: not cover your lips, you shall not mourn or weep,
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  Speaker 2: but you shall rot away in your iniquities and groan
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  Speaker 2: to one another. In his question, Matthew said, I am
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  Speaker 2: married to a woman I love dearly. And there's something
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  Speaker 2: about the faithfulness of Ezekiel's men industry enduring even though
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  Speaker 2: he's been told to expect great personal loss. There's something
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  Speaker 2: compelling he says about his impending loss and yet his
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  Speaker 2: willingness to press on in ministry. And my response to
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  Speaker 2: Matthew is that's exactly what I felt when I read
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  Speaker 2: this years ago and tried to get inside Ezekiel's mind
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  Speaker 2: and his wife's mind as they lived those last few
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  Speaker 2: hours together, because he gave him some warning, like twelve hours.
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  Speaker 2: I think it can be very strengthening to our faith
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  Speaker 2: to imagine this situation in such a way that God
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  Speaker 2: does something extraordinary to help Ezekiel and his wife endure
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  Speaker 2: this loss. I don't think he just abandons Ezekiel. We
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  Speaker 2: don't know what he did, but I've had to get
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  Speaker 2: inside their head and imagine what could be, not what was,
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  Speaker 2: but what could have been. Last week I read part
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  Speaker 2: of a poem that I wrote about job Well. I
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  Speaker 2: did the same thing with Ezekiel and his wife. There
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  Speaker 2: is something compelling to me about the suffering shared between
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  Speaker 2: a husband and a wife, especially when it costs both
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  Speaker 2: of them dearly. So that my imagination go into Ezekiel
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  Speaker 2: and his wife's mind and try to figure out what
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  Speaker 2: enabled them to hold back their tears as God commanded
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  Speaker 2: them to do. So, let me invite our listeners now
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  Speaker 2: to come with me into this imaginary situation that I
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  Speaker 2: wrote in a poem years ago, and let this possible
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  Speaker 2: scenario stabilize you for your own price, respect of loss
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  Speaker 2: in life or in ministry. So here's an excerpt from
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  Speaker 2: my Ezekiel's Wife poem. Ezekiel sat stunned and cold. The
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  Speaker 2: word that he had just been told converted every large
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  Speaker 2: complaint he ever made into a faint concern. No pain
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  Speaker 2: would be absurd, he thought. If this one word of
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  Speaker 2: God could be withdrawn tonight, I would engage in any
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  Speaker 2: fight for your great name and be a fool for you,
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  Speaker 2: bear any ridicule in Babylon. If you would spare me this,
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  Speaker 2: I'll serve you anywhere. Again, the voice of God was clear.
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  Speaker 2: I know that she is far more dear to you
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  Speaker 2: than life. And yet tonight I strike and take your
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  Speaker 2: heart's delight your wife. At sundown, she will die and
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  Speaker 2: hear my word. You shall not cry, nor tears run down,
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  Speaker 2: nor sigh aloud, nor sack or ash nor mourner's shroud.
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  Speaker 2: You are a sign for Israel. Soon messengers will come
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  Speaker 2: and tell them that Jerusalem is burned, and everything for
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  Speaker 2: which they yearned is gone the apple of their eye.
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  Speaker 2: Nor shall they be allowed to cry, but only grown
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  Speaker 2: beneath the rod, and know that I am Lord and God.
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  Speaker 2: Beyond the river chebar rose, the yellow sun, the cock crows.
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  Speaker 2: Ezekiel makes his silent way toward home and ponders what
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  Speaker 2: to say to his dear wife, and if he can
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  Speaker 2: a Prophet's not an easy man to live with, Zeke,
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  Speaker 2: she used to say, and then she'd smile. But anyway
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  Speaker 2: much can make a woman weak. Nobody else would call
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  Speaker 2: him Zeke.
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  Speaker 1: He thought.
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  Speaker 2: Perhaps the pain of all these years was not just
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  Speaker 2: bitter gall Perhaps she's been prepared to hear this final
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  Speaker 2: word and not to fear he ate his figs and
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  Speaker 2: barley cake in silence, Mara, can you take a walk
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  Speaker 2: with me? This morning's word has been the hardest that
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  Speaker 2: I've ever heard. They walked in silence for an hour,
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  Speaker 2: and then he gathered all his power and said, the
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  Speaker 2: God of Abraham, the God who calls himself I am,
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  Speaker 2: demands that you must die tonight. But Mara's eyes remained
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  Speaker 2: as bright as ever in her life.
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  Speaker 1: I know.
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  Speaker 2: She said, last night he came to show me in
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  Speaker 2: a dream. And then she took Ezekiel's hands and said,
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  Speaker 2: the book remember where we used to read, how God
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  Speaker 2: would someday come and lead us in the path of
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  Speaker 2: endless joy, and how at last he would destroy our
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  Speaker 2: blinding sin and let us see his face in all
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  Speaker 2: his majesty. Oh, dearest Zeke, last night I saw another
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  Speaker 2: world without a flaw, beyond what we could ever know,
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  Speaker 2: and I could scarcely wait to go. Oh, not that
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  Speaker 2: I could ever love you less, But I have seen above,
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  Speaker 2: and everything you've preached is true. Weep not great seer
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  Speaker 2: for me or you. I am the proof of all
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  Speaker 2: you've said. Tomorrow I will not be dead, nor you,
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  Speaker 2: and it will not be long till you have joined
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  Speaker 2: the endless song. Press on, Ezekiel, rejoice with heart and
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  Speaker 2: soul and mighty voice, make music to the coming King.
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  Speaker 2: Come walk with me, and we will sing.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. A very powerful poem to capture the deep faith
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  Speaker 1: of this godly couple. Thank you Best John for writing
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  Speaker 1: it and for sharing it with us today. Is a
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  Speaker 1: unique story, but not unique in God's plan for his servants.
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  Speaker 1: God's pattern of ministry and the suffering and losses of
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  Speaker 1: his servants is essential to God's judging and saving work
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  Speaker 1: among his people. Wow. You can find this poem by
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  Speaker 1: Google searching it search for Ezekiel's Wife by John Piper.
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  Speaker 1: Ezekiel's Wife by John Piper. It's a poem from nineteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty four, forty years ago. Questions like this one come
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  Speaker 1: up because we're reading the Bible together again. Give me
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  Speaker 1: your thoughts on our first attempt at this in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty four. Email me at ask Pastor John at zaringod
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  Speaker 1: dot org and put Bible reading in the subject line.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me what you think well. Speaking of a loss,
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  Speaker 1: The loss of an infant is very hard in parents.
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  Speaker 1: And we have a question from a grieving dad who asks,
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  Speaker 1: I'm ninety nine percent sure my infant son is in heaven.
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  Speaker 1: How do I erase all doubt? I'm Tony Ranky. We'll
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  Speaker 1: see you on Monday.