Tasting Truth: A Meal for the Soul
When I was in elementary school, my father was a bi-vocational pastor in a couple small churches. On occasion our family would be invited to eat lunch in a church member’s home after the morning worship time. I can remember being told that we were to eat whatever we were served. We were not to complain about the food. And even if we didn’t like what was served, we were to eat a few bites. Some meals were much better than others, but I did what I was told even when I was served beets or liver, which as a kid I did not like at all!
In Ezekiel 1, the prophet saw a vision of the glory of the Lord. The vision was so clear and powerful that Ezekiel’s response was to fall to his face. The glory of the Lord was so much that he could not take it in. As he laid face down, he listened to what the Lord had to say.
The Lord told Ezekiel to stand to his feet and listen to his assignment. Sometimes it seems that it would be nice to have God tell us our assignments that clearly, but often our assignments come in whispers and along the way. And if our assignments were given to us as clearly as were the assignments of Ezekiel, there is a good chance we might try to resist or avoid them because they appear to be much too big or hard.
Ezekiel was told that he was to go to a rebellious people who would be stubborn, but he was to speak to them anyway. He was not to be afraid of their reaction no matter how harsh their tone might be. Then God gave Ezekiel a scroll that was written on both front and back. Ezekiel saw words of lamentation, mourning, and woe. Not a summer beach read like we might prefer.
Then came the instructions like the one my father gave me when visiting in someone’s home: “Ezekiel, eat whatever I give you,” and the Lord told Ezekiel to eat the scroll!
In some of those homes years ago I ate some pretty bland food, including things that were hard to chew and swallow, but I knew the consequences of disobeying my father’s instructions. Ezekiel obeyed the Lord’s instructions and found that the scroll tasted like honey! I would have loved a little honey on some of the meals I ate in a few homes!
I doubt any of you have been asked to eat a scroll or a book lately. But I do think that scripture is clear that we are to consume God’s word regularly. Maybe the most obvious and familiar verse that comes to mind is from Matthew 4. After 40 days in the wilderness, Jesus faced his first of three temptations. Satan challenged Jesus to prove he was the Son of God by turning stones to loaves of bread. Jesus replied and quoted Moses: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” God hasn’t given us every word he has ever spoken, but we have many books of words that came to us by the Holy Spirit and through the prophets, apostles, and patriarchs of our faith. When we take in God’s word through reading, memorizing, and quoting these passages, we become satisfied and filled with God’s wisdom and find strength for our assignments.
So today find a quiet space and take a bit, or even better, a meal of God’s truth. Let it fill your mind and soul and equip you for every good deed that you are led to do for another.
Father, thank you for creating a hunger in us to know you. Thank you for sending Jesus who died and rose again that we might have life in you. Thank you for your inspired and trustworthy words that transform us and equip us to do your work in the world today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Ezekiel 1:28, 2:1-10; Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:3-4 ESV
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