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"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:25-26).
We all encounter seasons of defeat, moments when life feels like a pile of ruins. Relationships falter, dreams crumble, and spiritually we feel beaten down and more than just bruised — we feel broken. Ezekiel 36 is a Word from the Lord for broken people. People who had their lives seemingly defeated, ruined, crushed, and destroyed. People whose hearts had become hardened to the reality of God’s desires around them.
Yet despite the destruction, the ruins, and the despair, there is prophecy of hope amid God’s prophetic word through Ezekiel. One that looks not to what is torn down, but to that which is rebuilt. Rebuilt not by the will of humans, the strength of mighty leaders, or because of the righteousness that any nation possessed — but rather a promise centered completely on the holy nature of who our God is. “Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of My holy name … and I will vindicate the holiness of My great name ... and the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate My holiness before their eyes” (Ezekiel 36:22–24).
I was reminded this past week on Thursday, as we had our baptismal remembrance in school chapel — and as Chyler celebrated her third baptismal birthday — that just as God promised to replant the desolate land of Israel, it is in Baptism that we can know the reality into which He replants us, giving us new life and purpose. The joys of baptismal life assure us that even when we feel broken, God is at work, restoring and rebuilding us. Our identity is no longer defined by our failures, fears, past, or even what is thought by others. Instead, it is rooted in the unshakable promise of God: “You are Mine” (Isaiah 43:1).
Baptism not only replants what God desired from the beginning for us to have — a relationship with Him for eternity — but the baptismal life also rebuilds. It is a daily renewal, a daily rebuilding and reshaping of our “hearts of stone” to become those who live in the blessing of that gift of a “new heart” and “new spirit.” In that new spirit, the Holy Spirit, God imparts His gifts. He rebuilds and retools us for His kingdom’s work.
Each one of us has been uniquely gifted by the Spirit for a purpose. Some are called to teach, others to serve, encourage, or lead. Still others are gifted with wisdom, faith, or discernment (1 Corinthians 12:1-11). These gifts are not randomly assigned; they are deliberate, given by God to fulfill His perfect plan. They are the gifts He uses to build His kingdom through people who were and at times still are broken down, burdened by the reality of sin. There is every day a new beginning, a rebuilding, that does not minimize sin but one that is built on the rock of salvation, a life built to do that very thing God has gifted you to do through the Holy Spirit. Embrace what those gifts build (Hebrews 3:4), remember who gave you those gifts (1 Corinthians 12:6), and rest in who it is that replants and rebuilds through them (Ezekiel 36:36). Not always our way, but still a more excellent way indeed (1 Corinthians 12:31).
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