Ezekiel is informed that his wife, whom he deeply loves, is about to die. We need not infer from the language used here that her death was the result of a direct stroke by God. His wife may have been ill for some time, and God may have warned him of her approaching death. By figure God is frequently said to do that which He permits or does not prevent (see on 2 Chron. 18:18). It is Satan who is the author of sin, suffering, and death (see DA 24, 470, 471). However, God delights to take that which the enemy brings upon us to annoy, and make it serve some good end (see Rom. 8:28; DA 471). Here the loss of the desire of Ezekiel’s eyes was used to impress vividly upon the minds of the people the divine message.

Ezekiel’s experience forcibly impresses the lesson that to engage in the service of God does not mean immunity from suffering and calamity. At times it seems that God’s messengers are more fiercely assailed than others not actively engaged in Christian labor. Many a disaster has struck those who have dedicated their lives to service in some far-flung mission field. Sudden death or sore disease has sometimes fallen upon such dedicated ones. These calamities ought not to be considered as strokes of divine judgment. They are the result of Satan’s work. The enemy must be allowed a degree of access to souls so that in the end he will not be able to declare that he was not given a fair opportunity. This principle is demonstrated in the history of Job. However, when the enemy afflicts, God delights to make the heavy sorrow work for good, to the purifying of those that remain (see DA 471).