How Is Your Appetite? (9-13-2020)

How is your appetite? 9-13-20 Ezekiel 3:1, 3 & 4 And he said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel. ...Then he said to me, "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. He then said to me: "Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them. Those of you who know me well know that I love to eat. In fact I love it too much! But eating a scroll? Maybe a jelly roll, but a scroll? That doesn't sound terribly appetizing to me. Of course, God is telling Ezekiel to consume and then digest the words on the scroll and their deeper and broader meaning. After I got over the initial unappetizing thought of poor Ezekiel eating a big scroll of leather or skins I realized that God was telling Ezekiel to look for him in the words, to take seriously God's warnings and messages. God knew that Ezekiel would eventually understand what he meant. And Ezekiel did take God's words and ate them up - he devoured them. Not Fast Food Of course just reading the words is not enough. We need to stand under them and penetrate the obvious - to comprehend to understand what God is saying to his people whom he loves. That includes us of course - each of us as individuals and us as a community. Ezekiel chapter 3, in our Sunday School lesson today, indicates that we need to fully digest the Word. That takes time. -- I think it takes the body about three hours or longer to fully digest a meal, soooo... God is telling me to spend 3 hours or however long it takes to consume and process the Word, to find out what it is saying to me in my life and circumstances now this September, and as I delve into it to take in the full course meal, to let it settle into my heart - to love it - every last morsel. Take your time, ask questions I believe we need to be curious people. To ask questions. In this church I have discovered it is ok to ask questions. And so it is with God too. I think God loves the questions. Here are some questions or approaches to reading the Bible that I have read about: 1. What light bulbs go on for as we read, what shines, what is fresh, what sticks out for us this time through? God might be reminding us of things we've forgotten or he might be showing us things we haven't seen before. 2. What did God mean for the people he was writing to in that place and time? What are the layers of meaning? 3. Where do we see Jesus Christ in the passage? In Luke 24:44 Jesus said the whole Bible was about him. 4. What is a personal application in our lives, what is the Holy Spirit trying to lead us to? What is God trying to teach each of us as individuals - to stop doing something? - to correct some wrong thinking or behavior? 5. Why is the passage we're reading in this particular book of the Bible? What might the Bible lose if this passage was left out? What's the author's main point? Try to sum up your answer in one sentence. These are some of the questions we might ask to get the full course of what God is feeding us in the Word. For me, I think God is telling Glenn: take time, read carefully and slowly and chew on the words before swallowing them. Don't rush through them just to satisfy my immediate hunger to reach some kind of goal I set for myself or that others have set for me. This is healthy nourishing food, so Glenn, take your time to let it digest and become part of you. Then when I have done that, I will be more able to bring a nourishing meal to others. I will be speaking from the heart or even better, from the soul - at a soul level - because the Holy Spirit will have penetrated into my spiritual cell structure. Appetizers for the World We might have a strong appetite for God's Word, but there is a serious lack of appetite out there in the world. I believe we need to think seriously about how we might serve some appetizers to those people who don't care or are negative toward hearing God's word and his deeper message for all humanity. These words are good for everybody whether they know it or not. I think the challenge for us is to really work at how we get those delicious tidbits out there. How do we rain down God's Word on the public, on our society? I think these are challenges for us in our church. Ezekiel's and Our Challenge From this Sunday School lesson today I think God is telling Ezekiel and us to: 1. devour his words, 2. digest them 3. make them part of who we are 4. figure out how to share this nourishing food with others Above all, as our Sunday School lesson says: We must have a regular diet of God's Word to be healthy spiritually. Prayer Father send your spirit into each and every one of us in this faith community. Give us the guts to pursue your Word with persistence and determination. Inspire us and give us the courage to reach out to our society and share your bounty with many and diverse peoples. Amen!