Eat the Whole Roll
And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. Ezekiel 3:3 (ESV)
Hunger feels different to each person. Some have belly pain. Some have constant thoughts of food. Some become angry. Some fall into depression. But physical hunger is not the topic of this message.
Spiritual hunger does not have the same symptoms—or does it?
How much time are we spending in His word? When we aren’t excited if the service goes over an hour, tithing dwindles, complaining and grumbling occur frequently, watching TV shows and reading books that are not Christ-centered become the norm, our souls are starving. Our sins get darker. Yet we proudly call ourselves Christians.
Come on now, we go to church every Sunday, attend a Bible study or two and even listen to praise and worship music. Every day we try to do the right things. We really are good people. But something is wrong. Our desire to have a deeper relationship continues to gnaw at us. The problem with this kind of hunger is that many do not want to do what it takes to make it happen: read and digest His word.
Just how famished are we in this world today? Ezekiel must have been ravenous. He wanted more—a deeper dive—and he got a mouth full. God fed him the whole scroll—not bits and pieces. God’s word was internalized and Ezekiel had to chew it until it made sense.
We have surrendered ourselves to Jesus and invited Him into our hearts but how about eating the whole roll? Let’s take an inventory and see how we are doing. First, it’s not about filling our days with random acts of kindness. If we are not fueled by His word, those actions are inconsequential. Next, pride is involved. “I’ve read the Bible two or three times.” All well and good but how are we at loving our neighbors?
Week after week we hear a message at church, a podcast, or read a devotion. What are we sharing? Do we even remember what the sermon was about? When we get to eat the whole roll, God works in us to bring about the sweet words—His words!
It is time for us to start chewing not just for our own sake, but there are people out there who are starving to death!
Loving Lord, thank You for all the deep dives. Please bring us back to the realization that You are all we want or need. AMEN.