9 “But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt, put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days. 10 Your food which you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time. 11 The water you drink shall be the sixth part of a hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time. 12 You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human dung.” 13 Then the Lord said, “Thus will the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will banish them.” 14 But I said, “Ah, Lord [b]God! Behold, I have never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has any unclean meat ever entered my mouth.” 15 Then He said to me, “See, I will give you cow’s dung in place of human dung over which you will prepare your bread.” 16 Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am going to break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and in horror, 17 because bread and water will be scarce; and they will be appalled with one another and waste away in their iniquity.
Next in this chapter, God gives Ezekiel instructions for what to eat during this demonstration of the siege. I didn’t have a good idea of what twenty shekels weighed. So I looked it up and found that’s about 8 ounces of bread, and that seems a fair number of slices… Until I looked further and found out that’s a whopping 600 calories, compared to the 1500-2000 a grown adult needs. The water also is scarce, at only 20 ounces per day. Yikes!
Even worse though, is how Ezekiel is supposed to cook the bread, not with wood or coal, but human dung. Ezekiel draw the line there and asks God for anything else to cook the bread, so God “upgrades” him to cow dung. That in itself wasn’t unusual for cooking in ancient times, but it still was considered unsanitary for cooking bread.
The point was pretty clear for Israel, that bread and water would be so scarce that it would be rationed. More than that, they would mix coarser grains to make it last longer, and they would not have the “luxury” of cow dung. If we ever think we have it bad, well, think again. There are places and people in our world for whom food is so scarce, but that is not the case for many of us. We would do well to be thankful for God’s provision.
More than that, there is something else Ezekiel did, for which we ought also to be thankful. Simply, he spoke with God, and God heard him. We also have that incredible privilege, to speak with our Creator, the One who sustains all life. Not only that, but He actually invites us to talk with Him, and He hears our prayers. Every. Single. Time.
We need to be grateful for that reality, and also not take it for granted. It is an immense honor that our Lord and Savior listens to our prayers, our cries, and our rejoicing. We need to pray, to talk with God, to listen, and we neglect it too often. Take the time to pray right now, and don’t put it off. Don’t put Him off, always be listening and speak with God early and often throughout your day.
As Paul admonished, “Pray without ceasing.” That doesn’t mean we babble all the day long, but that we are always “interruptible” when our Lord needs our attention. Ask Him also to help you be tuned in to His voice and His leading throughout the day, and walk boldly with Him.