"EATING THE WORD, A Christian Contemplation"

EATING THE WORD
And the Word was God

A Commentary by Constance Vanides

I still remember the word for "eat" in Greek. It was actually a command. "Eat!" Mama would serve me a newly-prepared meal and would tell me to taste it. "You'll like it. It'll make you grow." And so I tasted, ate more, and grew, a bit on the chubby side, but grow I did.

Now, as a fully-grown, and I hope, more spiritually-matured adult, I think about the Scriptural command to, "... taste and see that the LORD is good..." (Psalm 34:8) What an intriguing statement!

This isn't the only time God gives the command to eat His word. God gave Ezekiel visions first, then He spoke these words to the Hebrew prophet and priest,

"I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me..." (Ezekiel 2:3)

"And He said to me, 'Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.' So I ate it, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness." (Ezekiel 3:3)

Again, a similar conversation ensued in the Book of the Revelation between the angel and the Apostle John:

"And I went to the angel and said to him, 'Give me the little book.' And he said to me, 'Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.'" (Revelation 10:9)

"And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter." (Revelation 10:10)

For us today, eating God's word is imperative for the living of a full life devoted to Him, to be able to bring others to know Him, as we are commissioned to do. We are not expected to simply rattle through His Scripture. We are to carefully, unhurriedly, listen and ingest what He says.

In chewing each word thoroughly, swallowing, and assimilating all into our belly and stomach, followed by drinking of His Living Water, we are assured of God's presence in us, we receive His power to understand, and thus present the truth of the Word to others.

Imagine then my surprise when out of the clutter of papers on my desk I suddenly unearthed a message from the Lord, one written more than twelve years ago. "Rejoicing in Emptiness," below, dwells on really listening to the Lord and is Scripturally confirmed from the Old Testament.

"So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you
with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know,
that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone;
but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD."
(Deuteronomy 8:3)

REJOICING IN EMPTINESS

Are you hungry?
Have you become so empty
that nothing will satisfy?
Have you come to that point in your life
when there is nothing for you?
Then, rejoice!
You have at last come to the end.
The "end" is when you begin anew,
the time to give up
and allow Me to lead you,
the time when you will really listen
to all I have to say,
of how much you mean to Me.
You will listen to My voice alone,
understand and, indeed, rejoice!