[picapp src=”4/c/b/7/Sweet_Ration_f304.jpg?adImageId=5521209&imageId=4796190″ width=”234″ height=”177″ /]It is never a small thing to have to eat words; I have had to do so far too many times in my life.  For me, there will be even more words to eat in the future.  I do have a choice of which words to eat, though.  I may have to chew and swallow the bitter weeds of nouns and verbs thoughtlessly harvested from my own pitiable mental garden.  I know what these words taste like and they are awful.  Every time I see a plate full of my words demanding consumption, I wonder at myself.  Is is not possible for a Holy Spirit indwelled man to just keep his mouth shut?  The answer is “Yes, it is possible.”  Quiet is a discipline I am still learning.  In the meantime I find that exchanging my “weeds” for God’s sweetness is the best alternative.

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.” (Jeremiah 15:16, ESV)

When Jeremiah spoke on God’s behalf, he suffered.  Sometimes Jeremiah suffered a lot.  Yet, for Jeremiah, the presence of God’s word in his heart and the privilege of sharing the nouns and the verbs of God were joy.

It is the deep desire of my heart to be like Jeremiah.  If I suffer over words, I want the suffering to be for the cause of Christ and the glory of the I AM, the God of the heaven’s armies.

Oh for the wicked and the righteous to agree regarding me, “He is called by the name of His God; by the words of his lips this is known.”