“1.Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.
2. So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll.
3. He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.”
Ezekiel 3:1-3 (NASB 1995)
When the Word Touches Others but Not The Minister
Anyone who preaches or teaches has probably experienced this strange reality. You deliver a message with conviction. People are blessed. Some are encouraged, others are delivered, some repent, and others testify that the word changed them. Yet when you go home, you realise that the same word has not penetrated your own heart or produced any tangible results.
Sometimes, God in His infinite mercy honours His word and blesses His people regardless of the state of the vessel because He is kind, faithful, sovereign, and can use anyone.
But even with this truth, there is something we must still pay attention to. A word may bless others while leaving the messenger untouched simply because the messenger did not first eat the word. They proclaimed what they had not digested. They ran out to speak before they allowed the word to sit in their spirit long enough to search them, break them, and align them.
Let Me Say This First
Before we go further, I must say this clearly. Everything I am saying here is not to insist that this is the only reason a minister may not personally experience the same blessing, conviction, transformation, or deliverance that others receive from the message they preach. God’s dealings with His servants are too deep to be reduced to a single explanation.
Far be it from me to box God with my limited understanding. He works with each of us in ways that are sometimes beyond what we can explain. There are times He blesses His people in a moment even when the preacher is still walking through a process or still wrestling that same word in the secret place.
So none of this is to say that the only reason a minister may not be touched by their own message is failure to digest the word first. No. God is too wise and His dealings are too personal for such conclusions.
Yet, this remains a reason worth considering. A messenger who does not pause to eat the word may preach a message that transforms others while it does not yet take root in them. Sometimes a person can carry a message without ever being changed by it. You can even preach light and walk back into personal darkness. Not because the word could not work, but because the minister did not open their heart to it the way they invited others to.
Ezekiel was not told to study the scroll. He was told to eat it. That is intimate language. It means letting the word enter your system, shape your inner world, and work deeply within before it ever comes out of your mouth.
Understanding What Kind of Word Requires Digestion
Before looking at Ezekiel’s experience in detail, it is important to understand the kind of message God gave him and why that type of message required digestion. Not every word God gives carries the same weight or is meant to be handled in the same way. Some words are personal and simple. Others are corporate and carry implications for the entire community of God’s people.
This distinction matters because the burden placed on the messenger is different. A personal message may not demand deep internal processing. But a corporate message, one that confronts faith, repentance, obedience, and spiritual condition, demands that the minister first sit with the word. They must allow it to search them before they deliver it.
Before we go on, I should say this. This simple distinction between personal words and corporate words is not meant to form a doctrine. It is only an insight the Holy Spirit used to help me understand what I am writing here. It is a way of explaining the weight that different kinds of messages carry. Nothing more. So please do not treat it as a rule, but simply as a guide that sheds light on why certain words require deeper digestion than others.
In fact, as you read, the Holy Spirit may even show you other distinctions. No one is the custodian of all truth and light. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher, and He teaches each one of us in ways that help us understand and apply His word personally.
With this understanding in place, we can now look at the difference between personal messages and corporate words so we can understand why God insisted that Ezekiel must eat the scroll before he spoke.
A. Personal Messages
These are simple, direct communications God may give concerning specific individuals or events. Examples include.
• Announcing the birth of a child. Isaac’s birth announced to Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18:10), John the Baptist’s birth announced to Zechariah (Luke 1:13), Jesus’ birth announced to Mary (Luke 1:31)
• Informing someone that a visitor has arrived. Samuel being called by God while Eli instructs him (1 Samuel 3:9), Elisha alerted that the Shunammite woman is coming (2 Kings 4:25), The Holy Spirit told Peter that men are looking for him (Acts 10:19)
• Communicating a change in season, a shift in timing, or a personal instruction. God told Elijah to leave the brook and go to Zarephath (1 Kings 17:7 to 9), God called Abraham to leave his country (Genesis 12:1), God told Samuel to stop mourning Saul and anoint David (1 Samuel 16:1)
Such messages are often straightforward. You don’t need to meditate for days before telling someone, “Your visitor is here.”
B. Corporate Words For The Church
Corporate messages touch the heart of the entire community/God’s people. They address spiritual condition, obedience, repentance, alignment, identity, and the collective walk of God’s people. Ezekiel’s message falls under this category.
These words carry weight. They confront sin and call for repentance. They warn, instruct, realign, and sometimes announce divine judgments or restorations.
This is why corporate messages require digestion. They must first work within the minister before they can work through the minister. A message that will cut others must first cut the preacher. A message that will call the church to alignment must first align the messenger.
Ezekiel’s Scroll; Why He Had To Eat It
Ezekiel 2:9-10 shows us the content of the scroll. “9.Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me, and lo, a scroll was in it. 10. When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and on the back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe.”
This scroll was not sweet because its content was pleasant. It was sweet because it came from God. The message itself carried weight, sorrow, confrontation, and truth the people did not want to hear. Ezekiel’s assignment/message confronted the rebellion of God’s people, called them to repentance and promised restoration and a new life. Ezekiel 3:7, Ezekiel 18:30, Ezekiel 37:4-5.
You see why God insisted that Ezekiel must first eat the scroll? A message of lament, rebuke, repentance, and hope cannot be carried in the flesh. The word had to become part of him before he could deliver it faithfully.
Why Ministers Must Eat The Word First
This principle applies today. Anyone who teaches God’s word must first submit themselves to the same truth they declare, allowing it to search them, shape them, and transform them.
He said “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12) He also said: “But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27) James also said “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” (James 3:1)
A minister can preach truths they do not practise. They can counsel people out of pits they still live in. They can explain principles that their own life does not yet reflect. Paul refused to allow that contradiction. He said to Timothy “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.” (1 Timothy 4:16)
Notice his emphasis. “Pay close attention to yourself first, and then to your teaching…..for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
God does not want His ministers pouring out what never fills them. He does not want His servants offering life while they themselves are running dry. He does not want anyone who preaches the gospel to become a castaway after helping others. It is the will of God that both the messenger and the hearers are preserved. That both preacher and people are transformed. That the minister who carries the word is not an outsider to its power.
This is why Paul’s instruction to Timothy is still relevant today. Eating the scroll and personal alignment is crucial to walking in truth, ministering with integrity, and remaining grounded in God. Of course, this should not now be a reason for delays in delivering the message. When God gives a word and releases you to speak, obedience is still required. The point is not procrastination, but preparation.
Jeremiah said “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16).
When a minister eats the word, four things happen.
- The messenger is humbled.
- The message becomes clearer.
- The delivery becomes purer.
- The messenger is protected.
The Danger Of Skipping This Process
A minister who skips digestion may still bless others, but they themselves remain vulnerable. They may preach a standard they do not live. They may call others into a depth they have never entered. They may prophesy repentance while resisting it themselves.
The call to ministry is not a call to speak quickly. It is a call to be truly shaped and transformed as a minister and then secure the transformation of others. Before we run with a message, especially one for the church, we must allow it to sit in us, confront us, align us, humble us, and strengthen us.
Remember, God never asks us to eat what He does not first place in our hands. He who gives the word also supplies the grace to receive it. He is patient with His servants. He works in his servants before He works through them. He delights to make His messengers living witnesses of the truth they proclaim.
Dear minister, slow down, sit with the message until it becomes life in you, not just language on your tongue. When the messenger eats the scroll, the word does more than pass through them.
It becomes part of them and when that happens, both the preacher and the people are preserved!
