Jeremiah 15:16 When your words came, I ate them;
they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
O Lord God Almighty.

There are several Biblical references to eating God’s Word. The Psalmist said, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103) God told Ezekiel, “‘Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.’ So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.” (Ezekiel 3:3) And then John on the island of Patmos had this experience: “So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, ‘Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’ I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.” (Revelation 10:9-10) All of these are in reference to speaking for God, and they contain a very important truth: we need to internalize and absorb God’s words before we can speak them with power. It is possible to admire the Bible as a work of literature, and it certainly is a magnificent one. However, until we take it in as spiritual nourishment, as God’s Word to us personally, it does us very little good. Even memorization, if it is just an intellectual exercise, does us little if any good. It needs to be absorbed and digested, if you will, for it to have its full effect in us. However, if we do take it in that way, then “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

I grew up in an environment steeped in the Bible, and I am deeply grateful. However, I have learned the hard way that just having it in my head, without really making it part of me, does very little good. That’s why I “eat breakfast” every morning, reading the Bible and asking God what He is saying to me through it. I recently got a new bilingual Bible, because my old one was falling apart, and it’s an interesting adjustment. Not only is this one not underlined, the En­glish is ESV rather than NIV, and the Japanese is an updated translation from the one I’m used to. Those two factors are “stimulating my tastebuds,” so to speak, shocking me out of my ruts and causing me to listen more attentively. That’s a good thing! Several years ago one of the believers in this church, a recovering alcoholic, said in a Bible study group, “You’re addicted to the Bible. I know addiction, and you are addicted to the Bible.” I was so happy to hear that, I completely teared up. I am a man of words, but I know that unless the Lord is speaking through me, my words are worthless. I desire that His Word would flow through me unhindered and undistorted, to accomplish exactly what He desires, just as He told Isaiah.

Father, thank You for Your Word, in printed form and as You speak it to my heart. May I indeed take it in, to make it part of me and to perform it, so that Your will may be done indeed, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!