Ezekiel lived during a time of great political upheaval. He was among the Jews exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC. Yet his prophecy is not about political revolution or social change, but about an inner transformation of the human heart by God. A new spirit, a new heart, washed clean.

In Morocco we could always tell when the King was coming to town. Painters would frantically white wash buildings facing the main boulevard where the king would drive by. Never mind the dirty side streets and neglected slums. Wherever the king would pass, the houses and streets would sparkle in blindingly brilliant white. The king was coming, and we were going to impress him!

Our God has never been interested in outward facades, but always in inner transformation. He is not impressed with our pious efforts to whitewash over our deeply ingrained tendencies to sin. He is not so much concerned with outward performance as with radical transformation of the innermost core of our being. Because that's where everything starts. ”Guard your heart, for from it all else flows.”(Proverbs 4:23) Jesus said that from within, from our heart, come evil actions. (Mark 7:21) Real, lasting change always comes from an inner revolution that translates into changed action. Only God, the ultimate surgeon, can transplant the human core. In Christ He made us a new creation!

As I ponder Ezekiel's words, I find myself singing this beautiful song: “Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me, melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.” Let us invite the Holy Spirit into the hardened and unyielding places in our heart where sin and shame are trapped as in stone, and ask Him to breathe His Spirit of life and hope and transformation on us once again.