Context No. 3921 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Ezekiel 3:1-9: in context

1He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll. 3He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your belly and your bowels with it.” Then I ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. 4He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them. 5For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel— 6not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can’t understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. 7But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted. 8Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. 9I have made your forehead as a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”

Before God sends Ezekiel to preach, he gives him a strange command: eat this scroll, containing God's words, and fill your belly with it. Ezekiel obeys, and finds that the scroll is as sweet as honey in his mouth. Only after he has taken God's word deep inside himself is he sent out to speak it.

There is a pattern here for anyone who would speak for God. First we must take his word into ourselves, internalize it, make it part of us, before we can faithfully give it to others. And though the message will be hard, and the hearers stubborn, the word itself is sweet to the one who feeds on it. God also warns Ezekiel that his hearers will be obstinate and hard-hearted, and will not listen, but he promises to equip him: I have made your forehead like the hardness of a diamond, harder than flint; do not be afraid of them. God does not send his servant unprepared into hard opposition; he gives a resolve to match the resistance. When God calls us to speak or stand for him against hard hearts, he first feeds us with his own sweet word, and then hardens our resolve so we need not fear the faces of those who resist.

Am I taking God's word deep inside myself, finding it sweet, before I try to speak or live it out, and do I trust him to give me the courage to stand firm against hard hearts without fear?

Sources

Ezekiel 3:3: "Eat this scroll that I give you and fill your belly and your bowels with it. Then I ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth."
Ezekiel 3:9: "I have made your forehead as a diamond, harder than flint. Don't be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks."
Ezekiel 3:1: "Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel."