My husband and I read through the Bible each year following a one-year Bible reading plan. Presently, we are in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel means “God is strong” and if you read this book, you will understand why Ezekiel needed to be strong!
The content in Ezekiel unfolds like a graphic movie. And if someone today were to share the visions he wrote about, we might ask, “What are you smoking?”
But the words of Ezekiel are the Word of God and we need to pay attention to it. One particular verse caught my attention.
“He said to me, Son of man, eat what you find [in this book]; eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 3:1 AMPC).
Two things stood out to me about this verse. First Ezekiel ate God’s Word. And second, he was instructed to “go and speak” it.
Let’s look in to how to eat the Word.
In verse three, we find that Ezekiel ate the scroll and wrote, “it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.” As I read those words, I remembered that somewhere else in the Bible there is a reference to God’s word tasting like honey. So, a quick Google search revealed which one I was thinking about:
“How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103)
God’s word is sweet! How about when we get a craving for something sweet, instead of running for chocolate, we run to God’s word? (Just a thought on how to avoid excess calories!)
When we eat something, it goes down inside us. So that tells me we need to get the Word of God down into our inner most being. Down past our mind and deep into our heart.
How do we eat the Word? Eating the word is meditating on the Word. (For tips on how to meditate on the Word, click here.)
Why do we need to have the Word inside us? Because there will be a time when we need to speak it.
So that’s the second thing – speak the Word.
We do not know when we will encounter the unexpected—the phone call that something happened, the bills in the mailbox, or the medical test results. In my experience, when those things happen, the pastor or some other spiritual leader is not around for encouragement. I have to know a Word and speak it over that situation myself.
When our 21-year-old son was in a car accident, he called and said, “I’m okay but I’ve been in a bad accident.” My husband and I rushed to the scene. I did not know the gravity of his use of the word “bad.”
So I spoke the Word of God that came to my thoughts all the way to the scene. Speaking the Word of God kept my mind from fearful thoughts thought could have led to an anxiety or panic attack. The old person inside me would have allowed the fearful thoughts! But the new me spoke the Word of God!
(And by the way, we continue to thank God that my son and the passengers of the other vehicle all walked away from a crash at highway speeds!)
We need to eat the sweet tasting Word to get it deep into our inner most being, so we will be able to speak it at any moment.
