What makes it easy or hard for you to read the Bible?

When I was in seminary, one of the preaching assignments given to me was to read “Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading” by Eugene Peterson, and then preach a sermon based on the reading. This was one of those experiences that altered my perspective on how I read the Bible, and I will tell you, the life-changing factor was magnified exponentially.

The premise of Peterson’s book is that, as Christians, we should not read the Holy Scriptures the same way we would read any other book. The very nature of Holy Scripture is vastly different and should therefore be received differently. One of the scripture references Peterson uses as a foundation for his message on spiritual reading is found in the Book of Revelation.  While John the Elder was living in exile on the island of Patmos, he saw a gigantic angel during a moment of worship—

Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking to me, and saying, “Go, take the book (scroll) which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” So I took the little book from the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey; but once I had swallowed it, my stomach was bitter” (Revelation 10:8-10 AMP).

In other words, don’t just read the words with your eyes. Eat the book. Devour it. Digest it. Allow Holy Scripture to become a part of your entire physical being. Think about a cereal box. You can memorize all the nutrition information and ingredients on the side of the box, but the only way the cereal will do you any good is if you pour milk on top and eat it.

Listen to what Peterson has to say about feasting on the Word of God: “Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus’ name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washing in company with the Son.” ^[1]

Ever since reading the book and then preaching a sermon devoted to the text, my time in the Word of God has been different. I am no longer trying to get the words in my head, but rather, I am chewing on them. Slowly swallowing the words and allowing them to nourish every cell in my body for spiritual transformation.

As readers of Truth, we are to consume the Word of God so that we are transformed. In John’s case, we see from the text in Revelation 10 that eating the scroll was not an entirely pleasant experience, was it? His bitter stomachache should serve as a reminder to us that we may not find everything to our liking as we digest the hard truths of Scripture, but it is a crucial practice for spiritual growth.

After all, you are what you eat, right?

And, just in case you were wondering, John was not the first man in history to eat a book. If you want to read about a few others, Jeremiah (Jer. 15:16) and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3:3) also ingested truth, and like John’s, their words reveal the metabolized essence of having been in the presence of God.

As the Angel told John, let’s eat the book! Let’s soak up the Word of God like medicine through an IV tube. Let’s read in order to live.

^[1] Eugene H. Peterson. Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading. (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co: Grand Rapids, MI). p. 18.