Read the Bible Like Ezekiel

God told the prophet Ezekiel to eat the scripture. "'Son of man, eat what I am giving you-eat this scroll.' So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll."

(Notice that all Ezekiel had to do was open his mouth. He was merely a receiver.)

"'Eat it all,' he said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey. 

"Then he said, 'Son of man, go to the people of Israel with my message.'" (Ezek. 3:1-4 NLT.)

The idea was that Ezekiel would digest the word and turn it into his own flesh so people would see the Word of God in a living body rather than on a dead parchment. This is the change that occurs when we receive the Word into our lives. People once again see the Word become flesh.

When we are reading to become living epistles, we are not reading for information as much as reading for personal transformation. We are not reading merely trying to understand it, but to allow it to form who we are. One sentence may be all we read but we dwell in it.

Compare how we read a letter from a close friend to how we scan the newspaper for news. Reading that invites the life of God into our spirits has more in common with the first. We read as though we are savoring the words of a love letter or pondering the meaning of a poem. It is not like skittering over the surface of a popular magazine. Instead, we read and reread scripture and listen for the words that resonate.

Dear Lord, help me to listen with my heart as well as my mind when I read Your Word. 

"Pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words...for they are life to those who find them" (Proverbs 4:20, 22).