God's Plan (shown through a temple)

Ezekiel 40: 3
He took me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze. He had a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway.

40:11
He measured the width of the entrance to the gateway, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.

So he didn't have a name, but the Obscure Biblical Character did spend four chapters measuring a temple with a rod. This temple hasn't been built yet, but God told Ezekiel exactly how big this temple was going to be. So God had a very detailed plan (laid out in four chapters) of how He wanted it to be. He told Ezekiel how big each room was to be, where each room was to be, and how much land to put the temple on.

So how does this relate to us?

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

God has a detailed plan in store for all of us. My little brother and I were just talking about this last night. He knew when He created light on the very first day that I would be talking about His plan on October 1st, 2009, thousands of years after He worked His miracle of Creation. He had everything preplanned.

Now, not everything goes according to His plan. Israel probably wasn't supposed to turn against God and towards idols. But it eventually turned out okay for us, mostly because God knows what we're going to do before we do. But in order for that to happen, somebody had to follow God's plan again, and come back to Him, usually after some prompting by God (Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. Hosea 1:4)

So this next week I'm doing three characters (tied into one.) They're all in the same chapter.
These three Obscure Biblical Characters are:
-children of a minor prophet
-God used them as part of their father's prophecy
-their names mean 'the land where I will take revenge', 'no mercy,' and 'not my people'

It is in one of the following books
Hosea
Joel
Micah
Nahum

In His Service,
Joyce