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Ears Trieth Words
by A.J. Wilson

"For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat .Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good.”  Job 34:3-4

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 1John 4:1

“And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.”  Rev 10:9-10 (see also Ezekiel 3:3)

A favorite place to eat of mine would be O’Charly’s.  I like to start with a couple of the fresh baked rolls and honey-butter sauce.  Then get the spicy chicken-tortilla soup, with a juicy steak (of course with some A-1 sauce), some fall-off-the-bone ribs, and a baked potato.  Then in the chance there is some room left, the caramel pie is very good.  (Are you hungry yet?)  We all love food, and you can certainly tell the difference between a good steak, and a tough piece of shoe leather.  Can we do the same with preaching or a good testimony?

As Elihu encouraged Job to do in the verse above, we should try, or examine the words that we hear.  For us to adequately examine and make an informed judgment about an item, we must know something about the item; so we should know the Bible to examine a good “word.”  John reminds us that not all messages we receive from a “prophet” are good, many are false, especially today.  God never encouraged a messenger (say Jonah, for example) to go and tell the people what they thought about the people (“You good for nothing Ninevites!”).  Instead God always wants his messengers and prophets to share His words with the people; even though sometimes it was a bitter message.

As we seek to reach out to those around us, we should seek to share God’s Word with them.  Notice above that God told John to eat the scroll (and Ezekiel & Jeremiah also) before he prophesied again to the people.  This symbolic measure tells us to internalize God’s Word.  A good message (whether a testimony or preaching) will be filled with His thoughts.  Another way of thinking is, we are told by Jesus (Luke 6:45) that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh”.  Are we filling ourselves with enough of God’s Word that it is what comes from our mouths?

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