Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – February 2, 2017
By Tripp Prince
Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 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 10:8-10
A friend of mine works as an urban gardener in one of the poorest neighborhoods in our city. He grows vegetables to feed a neighborhood and change their entire outlook on food. Why? Because in a neighborhood where the closest grocery store is a three-hour bus ride away, honey buns and sweet tea from the local convenience store are the staple foods for countless people in his community. Though it tastes sweet going down, this food is actually destroying their health and dramatically shortening their lifespans.
If you’ve had a steady diet of junk food your entire life, it may be a shock to your system when you’re presented with something healthy and good! What is good for your long-term health and wholeness may feel like a bitter affront to your well being. A stomach that has only processed refined sugars for years is unconditioned and caught off guard when vitamins and minerals flood into the system. Yet if given enough time, what once feels strange and foreign has the potential to transform you from the inside out, filling you with health, vitality and strength. The same is true when we open ourselves up to receive the Word of God into our lives.
In our lives we desire so many things that appear to be sweet and nourishing yet ultimately contribute to our sickness and brokenness: the quest for power, the need to be beautiful and desirable to others, the sense of security that comes from wealth and affluence. When we dine on these false promises, we eat a plate full of honey buns, yet convince ourselves that it is nothing short of a nourishing feast!
The Lord is inviting you to receive his Word into the depths of your being. He wants you to feast on his Word, for he knows that in so doing you receive healing and wholeness for your soul and body. He wants to transform and renew you from within. Yet he also knows that what is best for us requires the transformation of our desires.
We must learn to desire His feast, even if it feels bitter and sour at first, knowing that it is potent medicine that brings health and healing to our sick and weary souls. As this happens, we acquire a taste for healthy food and seek it out more and more. Once we have feasted at the table of the Lord, may we never content ourselves with convenience store junk food!
Prayer
Father, may we be a people who know the Word of God and so internalize this Word that we are renewed and transformed daily by your Spirit’s work in us.Application
Have you developed a faithful habit of daily feasting upon the Scriptures through faithful reading, study, and prayerful application?Related Reading
Ezekiel 2:8-33; Jeremiah 15:16; 2 Timothy 3:16Post/Tweet today
The Lord desires for us to digest His Word deeply into our inner being, so we are strengthened by Scripture. #WisdomHunters #spiritualnutritionWorship Resource
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