Ezekiel 4:14

Ezekiel 4:14 says, Then said I, Ah Lord God! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.  Ezekiel protested against eating food prepared this way, since he said it would make it impure, and he had never eten anything impure.  We could say that Ezekiel was bragging about his righteousness and that God was asking Him to do something unrighteous.  We can never stand before God by our own righteousness, and if God calls on us to do something, as He did with Peter and eating from the sheet of food that Peter considered unholy, like Peter, we must obey God. Matthew Henry does say that if we are called on to do something that we see as sinful that we should bring our concerns to God.  Ultimately though, we must do what God calls us to do, even if He doesn't change anything about it after our concerns are raised, just as Peter did.  

Verse fifteen adds, Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith. God told Ezekiel that because of his concern about the way the food was to be prepared that He would replace cow’s dung for man’s dung. Sometimes, God may change His directions to us because of our concerns, as He did with Ezekiel, and other times He may not, as was the case with Peter.  We just need to accept God’s answer either way.   

Verse sixteen continues, Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:  God told Ezekiel that the people of Jerusalem were soon going to be eating bread by measure, or with just enough to survive on, and they were also going to drink water with the same care.  This was because the siege was going to limit their supply of food and water.  They would be astonished at the state of affairs in Jerusalem, which had been prosperous at one time.  This was all going to happen because of their refusal to obey God, and if we find ourselves going through a bad time in life as Christians, we should first ask if we are being obedient to God.  At times, this may be the case, but not always.  Just as the early disciples at times called out to God and nothing changed in their situation, but they still remained faithful to God, so must we no matter what is happening in our life.   

Verse seventeen concludes, That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity. God told Ezekiel that the want of bread and water would consume away their iniquity.  I believe this means that they would realize that their sin had gotten them into this situation and that faith in God would get them out of it.  When they had served God, they had an abundance to meet their needs, and their iniquity had taken His blessings away.  As followers of Christ, we will always have our spiritual needs met if we are faithful to God.  I would say that we will normally have our physical needs met, but this is not always the case.  At times, Christians do suffer from hunger and at times they are beaten and killed for their faith, but they are always secure forever spiritually.  I would also say that serving God does not mean that we are going to have everything that we want or desire.  He will give us our daily bread and not our yearly bread.  Faith is a day-to-day reliance on God, and not an amassing of great material wealth.