Ezekiel 3:10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.
You Can Only Give What You Have
I love to travel. This year, since the end of summer camp, my family and I have traveled to Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Rhode Island, Arizona, West Virginia, and Ohio. Recently, we were talking about how much we enjoy eating at local restaurants that have the local personality and flavor. We often ask local people about such restaurants. Whenever I eat at a new restaurant, I want to hear from someone who doesn’t just praise or defend the food, but who has actually eaten and digested it. Oftentimes when it comes to the Bible, we praise, defend, and even read the Bible, but we are not digesting the Bible. We are not thinking or acting on the Word.
In Ezekiel 3, God commands Ezekiel in a vision to eat the words that God had given him for His people. He says in verse 4, “Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.” God wanted Ezekiel to ingest His Words, to think on them and incorporate them into his life. Then he was to speak them to the people.
Verse 10 clarifies this when God says, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.” Ezekiel was to give an unpopular message to a wayward people. What gave him strength to do that was not the strength of oratory, but the discipline of listening.
Our power comes from digesting God’s Word and living on the strength it gives. If I am reading the Bible, that is good, but if I am reading the Bible and can’t tell someone an hour later what I read, it is no good at all. God’s Word is not to be merely defended, praised, or read, it is to be digested in much the same way you would digest a good meal.
When I go to a city away from home, people can praise the food, show me pictures of food, and defend it against competitors, but I want to talk to someone who has eaten that food and has lived on the strength it provides. When I want answers for life, I want someone who has digested the Bible and who has thought and acted on it. People in your world need the same thing. People need someone who has digested God’s Word, thought about what God has said, and acted on it.