GOD’S WORD IS FOR EATING

““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 10:9b

The Bible is meant to be the believers’ food; so GOD’S WORD IS FOR EATING: “So 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.” Then 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” (Rev.10: 9-10). Jeremiah and Ezekiel had earlier done likewise (Jer.15:16; Eze.3:1-3).

How strange, that despite the rich nourishment available in God’s Word, many Christians frequently feel spiritually dry, thirsty, hungry, and even empty deep inside! Some folks even experience such feelings right after they’ve finished reading or studying the Bible. The truth is: Our attitudes towards the Bible and our motives matter a great deal. In reading and studying the Bible, we might learn something new, pick up some good advice, or receive some inspiration, but these may not satisfy us. We may still feel hungry inwardly and spiritually weak in faith. Of course, books are meant to be read. We study textbooks and possibly commit some parts to memory. We might read a biography for inspiration and encouragement. But, what kind of book is the Bible to us?

Is the Bible a book we read simply for inspiration, or a textbook to learn about God and the Christian faith? Is it a book that instructs us how to be a good person, or how to have a happy life? As Christians, we certainly should read and study God’s Word regularly. But the Bible is not simply a work of literature, a textbook, or a self-help book. God’s aim in giving His written Word to us wasn’t that we would learn more doctrines, ethics, and “how-tos,” or even that we’d only be inspired. It was that we’d be fed. God’s Word is meant primarily for EATING! His Word is given to us as food (Jer.15:16; 1Cor.3: 1-3; 1Pet.2:2; 1Tim.4:6; Heb.5:12-14). Just as we live on physical bread, we are to live on God’s words as our spiritual bread (Mt. 4:4).

One of the foremost matters for physical survival is FOOD. Eating food quenches hunger and nourishes the body. The primary concern of a caring mother for her child’s well being is that the child eats nourishing food to be healthy. Similarly, God’s real concern for His children, is that we be full of and grow in His life by eating His Word. God’s strategy for us to be healthy and grow in divine life is to eat SPIRITUAL FOOD – His Word. Beyond reading and studying the Bible, we actually need to “eat” it. Nothing is more important to our Christian life than to be nourished with God’s Word. Biblical knowledge is meaningless if we’re spiritually famished, and consequently weak and dying. God’s primary concern for us is to live and grow by eating His Word as our food – daily!

To eat is to take food into the body that satisfies, sustains, nourishes, energizes, and enhances growth. But the food we eat must come from living matter if it must nourish us. Inorganic matter, like a rock or metal, can’t nourish. Similarly, spiritual eating involves taking in something of the divine life that inwardly satisfies and strengthens us. As we eat spiritual food, we grow in the life of God. Just as physical food must contain life for it to nourish us; spiritual food must have and give life. The Word of God has and gives life: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (Jh.6:63); “All Scripture is God-breathed” (2Tim.3:16). The Bible is the very breath of the living God: it contains and imparts life.