NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

Day 18 - Yummy to the tongue

Scripture focus: The voice out of Heaven spoke to me again: "Go, take the book held open in the hand of the Angel astride sea and earth." I went up to the Angel and said, "Give me the little book." He said, "Take it, then eat it. It will taste sweet like honey, but turn sour in your stomach." I took the little book from the Angel's hand and it was sweet honey in my mouth, but when I swallowed, my stomach curdled. Revelation 10:8-10 The Message

St. John, the author of Revelation, was given the task by God to keep the early believers in his congregation ready and able for the arduous task of spreading the message of hope to hurting people. This was no easy task. His community was powerless politically and economically and treated as criminals. (Sound familiar?) John was a great man for the job, because this fire-filled follower wasn't content with the status quo – he wanted his congregation to live, really truly live – the abundant life.

One Sunday morning as he worshiped imprisoned on the island of Patmos – John received a message in a vision. Can you imagine? A gigantic angel, with one foot planted in the sea and the other on land boomed out a sermon. Like any good congregant, John started to take notes. But the angel wasn't having it. He traded his pencil and notebook for silverware. He ate the book. He ate the bible.

I read magazines and novels and even biographies. They go in one ear and out the other. Sometimes a phrase or two sticks or a concept is recalled. If I'm reading a book for a class, I study it in order to pass an exam. But this isn't how the angel is telling John to read scripture. The angel is challenging John, and us, to assimilate it into the very cells of our body. Become what we read. It's not a gossip magazine telling us about God. These words are intended to do something inside us, give us health and wholeness. As we grow healthy and whole internally, all this goodness will leak out. As our insides are healed – our outside expression of that internal reality will result in holiness.

Eat the book. So says Eugene Peterson. I pray we'll heed his call.

Recommended reading: Mark 13 - 16

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