Prophets of old and new were commanded: Eat this book! (Ezekiel. 2:8-3:3; Jeremiah. 15:16; Revelation. 10:9-10). “Get this book into your gut. Get the words of the Scripture moving through your blood-stream. Chew on these words, swallow them, digest them, and let them turn into muscle and gristle and bone. Let the Word be fleshed out in a day-by-day life of holiness.”

They all lived in a time like ours, in which there is a tremendous pressure to live by very different texts than the one given us by God in the Bible. The diet of the Word of God for these prophets issued in sentences of awful strength, images of blazing clarity, and a prophetic life of courageous suffering, enabled them to keep focus and to overcome their severe trials.

Believers today are in danger of succumbing to the widespread setting-aside of the Word of God in the Bible, and replacing them with the post-modern text of our own experience – our needs and wants and feelings. The texts of our busy and hectic age are constantly pressing in on us through colourful and loud advertisements, tabloid headlines in heavy types and all kinds of pictures of war, terrorism, hunger, and natural catastrophes from around the world.

The simple texts of the Bible will challenge us to listen to another reality than that of the culture around us. The challenge today is more than ever to calm down to be able to hear the voice of God. Only by receiving the Word of God into our heart we will get a foothold in life, which will help us not to be overwhelmed and be rendered passive by all the powerful impressions of the post-modern culture.

The ever increasing demand for effectiveness is causing stress at work. Even the leisure activities of the children are putting pressure on the busy parents who have to bring them. It is all about finding peace and quiet in our souls and not being caught in the hectic hunt characterizing the time and society in which we live. One thing only is essential, to sit at the Master’s feet, meditating on his words, being formed into his likeness.