Beloved,
After a late meeting last night, I decided not to set my alarm. At around 6:40am I woke up to the sound of the loud voice of a little boy. He was on the other side of the house, confined in his room behind a baby gate, but I could hear him distinctly. He was addressing me.
Vos was repeatedly saying, “Dadda eat Bible. Dadda eat Bible. Dadda eat Bible.”
I’m not exactly sure what he intended by this. Vos understands that Mom and Dad begin everyday with the Bible. And usually the first thing he asks for when he sees me in the morning is food (my boy loves to eat!). It seems that in one way or another those two realities were combining in his mind and leading him to most adamantly exhort me to eat Bible.
Whatever he meant by it, I took it as a gracious call from God. Here I was getting a late start to the day and feeling very behind for the week, especially in the realm of sermon prep. The temptation was to skimp on personal devotions, and to come to God’s word as a means to the end of getting a sermon. But God in His gracious providence caused the first thing I heard upon awaking to be the repeated refrain: “Dadda eat Bible.”
Do you know that is what God called Ezekiel to? He commanded His prophet to literally eat the scroll of His word as the prerequisite to speaking it to the people (Ezek. 3:1). And that literal eating was intended to serve as a picture of getting the word deep into his heart (Ezek. 3:10). Ezekiel needed the word of God dwelling in him richly. He needed to eat the Bible in order that He might speak the Bible from the depths of the soul. God used my little boy to freshly remind me of that today. Far better to have a less than perfectly crafted sermon with the word in my heart than to craft a message that puts Calvin and Lloyd-Jones to shame without the word in my heart.
I need to eat Bible. Every day. All throughout the day. For man doesn’t live by bread alone but by every word that comes from God’s mouth! That is what God impressed upon me toward through the lips of a babe this morning. And it is His gracious call to you as well. Have you been feasting upon His word this week? Is it your meat and drink?
Oh friends, what a vast spread of spiritual delicacies the Lord sets before us in His word! Let us eat and eat and eat until our souls are satisfied as with fat and rich food. And then with souls stuffed, let us speak that word to one another and the world.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Nick