Don’t Leave the Same Way You Came

 Scripture:

“When my people come to worship me during any festival, they must always leave by the opposite gate from which they came: Those who come in the north gate must leave by the south gate, and those who come in the south gate must leave by the north gate.”  ‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭46‬:‭9‬ ‭CEV‬‬

Observation:

Ezekiel was given a unique command from the Lord concerning worship at His temple. He said that during any festival, the people who come to worship must come in to worship, must leave on the opposite side. If they came in the north gate, they need to leave the South Gate, etc. it doesn’t give us any further clarity on this or any purpose we can see.

Application:

There are some practical reasons, like traffic flow, that this may be about. It could be so that people have to go through the entirety of the space in order to leave the opposite side of the temple. In the church world when I was young, we always heard, “you won’t leave here like you came in Jesus name.” I was reminded of that when I read this today. It could be a spiritual reminder that after meeting with God, you can’t go back the same direction you were going before. Paul said, “letting go of what is behind and pressing on to what is ahead in the upward call of Christ Jesus.” Maybe we should leave church in a different direction than when we came.

Prayer:

Father, let every encounter with you leave me changed, transformed, and going a new direction. Help me to never walk out of Your presence the same way I went in, but to move from glory to glory and from faith to faith. Teach me  how to forget the former things and walk into the new things You have for me daily.

Your Son,

Jeff