Eat Hardy

The Lord GOD said to me: As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you: be not rebellious like this house of rebellion, but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you.  It was then I saw a hand stretched out to me, in which was a written scroll he unrolled before me.  It was covered with writing front and back, and written on it was: Lamentation and wailing and woe!

He said to me: Son of man, eat what is before you; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel.  So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat.  Son of man, he then said to me, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.  He said: Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.

Our first reading from Ezekiel tells us to eat whatever God gives us.  In other words, when “wailing and woe” is our fate, God tells us to deal with it.   Accept our situation no matter how bad so it becomes “sweet in our mouths” as opposed to bitter making us resentful and swallowed up by anger, remorse, and darkness.

Easier said than done.  I guess that’s why Ezekiel is a prophet telling us distasteful things we just don’t want to hear.

We should feed our bellies and stomachs with the Word of God.   There is much in our Bible, or scroll, for us to consider and become our spiritual food.  We must unroll our Scroll and read.  When we do, lamentation and woe become easier to handle and understand.   The Bible can fill us when we read and speak its words.

Deacon David Pierce