Eat The Book?

Reading through Ezekial is a chore.  He received a lot of his messages before and during Israel's exile to Babylon, around 580 b.c.
Ezekiel 3:1-3 (NIV)
¹ And he said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel."
² So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.
³ 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. 

Interestingly, this same thing happened later at the close of the bible in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 10:1-2 (NIV)
¹ Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars.
² He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,
Revelation 10:8-10 (NIV)
⁸ 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."
⁹ 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."
¹⁰ 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.

Now, what is it about "eating the scroll"...a book?
I have been in this business of reading the Bible for over 40 years now.  I've been teaching it almost as long.  It's a regular habit of mine to begin my day with reading scripture.  I have probably read through the entire scripture for almost 30 straight years.  I'm not saying any of that to impress anyone because frankly it's not that impressive.  The challenge of any "reading" of any book is not that it's been done, but rather that it's been done in order to allow scripture to be formative - to read in order to constantly re-orient our lives to what it's saying.

Paul writing to the Romans said it this way:  Romans 12:2 (NIV) 
² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

It's an admission that something is "forming" us at all times.  We are being "pressed" by all sorts of forces.  The "world", as Paul says, has a "pattern"..."suschematizo" - you can see the word "scheme" in that word.  It's that particular "way", or "scheme" that seeks to influence thought and direction...to push us towards something.

For example, commercials on TV are particularly adept at putting images in front of us to "woo" us towards buying their product.  Politicians, and those who support them, use images to convey either vote for, or vote against, based on their appeal.

What I want to quickly say is that "eating the book" is that art of taking up the scriptures and reading it in such a way that we allow the words to come into us, take authority in our thinking, our motives, our attitudes, and we read therefore, not to be spiritually superior in terms of "knowing" things about scripture, but rather to to live the words out, assimilating the reading to our own life.

Peace