In Your Mouth

What do you put in your mouth? And why?

I wrote a post a while back about a book my pastor gave me and I was so enthralled with it he gave me another: Eat this Book by Eugene Peterson. (If that name rings a bell, it's because that's the guy who wrote The Message version of the Bible. And if you like The Message, you should really read this book.)

Anyway, the book is centered on this passage from Revelation: 

"So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, 'Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth,'" (Revelation 10:9, HCSB). John, the writer of Revelation, did just that: He ate the words of the Lord. Literally.

Now, to get the main idea of the book, you need to read it. But what I'm sharing with you today is what God's been working in me over the past few weeks:

God has put His word in our mouths.

Well, at least, He said He did. Here are just a few examples from the Old Testament:

"Let it serve as a sign for you on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the Lord’s instruction may be in your mouth; for the Lord brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand," (Exodus 13:9)

"But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it" (Deuteronomy 30:14).

"'My Spirit who is on you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouth of your children, or from the mouth of your children’s children, from now on and forever,' says the Lord," (Isaiah 59:21).

God's message, His instruction, and His words should be in the mouths of His children.

But then what do we do with them?

I've known the above verses for a long time and have actually memorized the last two. But here's what I thought they meant: God's Word is in my mouth so that I can speak it. 

Granted, I definitely SHOULD speak His Word; it's powerful, it's comforting, it's full of wisdom and grace and love.

But that's not all. 

Consider this: when you put food in your mouth, what do you do with it? You taste it. Chew it. Swallow it. It becomes part of you.

And this is exactly what God's Word is supposed to do in us: it nourishes us, fills us, energizes us, and changes us into the person God wanted us to be. 

Knowing this, consider how you currently eat His Word:

• Do you skip meals, not eating it at all? Do you figure you're good enough as long as you get to church every now and then, listen to worship music, and read a good Max Lucado book every so often? (No offense; I LOVE Max Lucado.)
• Do you eat light stuff, like the salads of the Bible? (No offense; I LOVE salads.) Do you pick and choose some psalms or some comforting words of Jesus, staying away from any teaching that's hard or confrontational or seemingly un-PC?
• Are you picky? Do you even know how to digest some of the thick stuff in the prophets or the Law? I knew a lady once who told me, "I like Jesus, but God is a little too harsh." You don't get to pick one without the other; the meal of the Bible is all or nothing.
• Do you stuff yourself to the point of being miserable? Have you read this far into this post and thought, "OK, Leslie, I'm going to spend 6 hours reading God's Word tonight." Can you even digest what you're shoving in?

You know how to eat food in a healthy way:

• take small bites
• chew slowly
• eat a variety of foods
• stop when you're full

And we should do the same thing with the Bible:

• Take small bites: Bite off what we can actually consume. You cannot fully grasp an entire book of the Bible in a day, and sometimes not even a chapter. Maybe one story, one psalm, one paragraph (in Paul's letters), or even one verse (in Romans or Hebrews or one of the more savory books).
• Chew slowly: Do not rush your time in God's Word! Don't sit down with 8 minutes until you need to be in the car to go to work. Pretend you've got an hour over a meal with your best friend, you haven't seen her in a month, and you need to catch up on everything. Listen well. Pour out your heart. 
• Eat a variety of foods: We all have our favorite places to land. But we can't just sit in the book of John or Genesis or Ruth. You need to be nourished on the full counsel of the Word. Eat some of the stuff you don't really like, some of the stuff you've never tried, and plenty of the stuff you know you love.
• Stop when you're full. Do not keep cramming it in your mouth just because somebody says they study the Bible two hours a day. Eat the Word to the point that you have something to chew on and keep chewing on it through the day. Ponder it. Meditate on it. Memorize it. Speak it. Ask God to ask you how to apply it.

You cannot be physically healthy without the proper food. And you can't be spiritually healthy without a daily in-pouring of God's Word.

Be honest with yourself and with God. Analyze your Bible-eating habits and let Him assess where you are. And if you need help, try my past blogs on Studying Scripture (Part 1 and Part 2) and Meditating and Memorizing.

As always, let me know if I can help. You can find me here:

@leslienotebook

myleslienotebook@gmail.com

PS--I haven't posted in forever, primarily because God hasn't given me any great ideas. But I check this blog every day and I see you reading. I see you searching. Thank you. Let me know if I can address anything specifically for you.

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