Priority #1

Then he added, “Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. [Ezekiel 3.10]

If we will see it, what we have here is a description of how God prepares us for service to Him. God was preparing Ezekiel to go on mission to the Judean exiles in Babylon.

First, and always first, God's Word must sink deep into the heart of any servant of God. While it might make sense to say that the first thing should be to be commissioned or called by God, it is unnecessary because ALL are called by God. So, the Word of God is the genuine servant's first priority.

The fact that God told Ezekiel that His Word must sink "deep" and into his "heart" carries significance as well. The heart of man, as Jeremiah so aptly pointed out is a place otherwise full of deception and wickedness. To have God's Word "deep" in that environment suggests a complete and thorough displacement of the heart's wickedness and deceit by the truth and righteousness of God.

Then, and this must not be overlooked, God told Ezekiel that His word should sink deep into Ezekiel's "own" heart first. And God confirmed that further when He said to listen to them (His words) carefully "for yourself." Ezekiel would not be prepared to do God's bidding until he first had experienced God's Word in all its effect in himself.

Everything required of Ezekiel might easily translate into what is required of us.

We are ALL called. And, because of this calling, we are ALL compelled to not just read the Bible once and a while when it is convenient, but to make it a first-and-foremost priority. So saturated then are we to be with God's Word that the inherent deceit and wickedness in our hearts is displaced (and continues to be displaced) by the truth and righteousness of God found in His Word.

As simple as this sounds, few follow it. It is not surprising then that Jesus, God's Living Word, said this about the subject:

You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. [Matthew 7.13-14]

The gateway Jesus mentioned is the passage to God.

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. [John 14.6]

So here we find a profound revelation in what God told Ezekiel. Jesus is God's Word. 

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. [John 1.14]

To be filled with academic knowledge of God's Word without accepting that Christ IS the summation of God's Word, is failure to the degree only eternity can quantify. 

You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! [John 5.39]

True followers of God's Word then are followers of Christ. This works much the same as a bucket under an open spigot is filled and overflows. The bucket is the human mind where academic knowledge comes from God's Word. As the mind, in unreserved humility and priority, is resolutely filled with God's Word, that knowledge then overflows and spills deep down into the human heart where life is changed.

When sought, Jesus fills the human heart displacing deceit and wickedness on a daily basis 

Obtaining academic knowledge of God's Word without obtaining Jesus Christ is a near, but eternal, miss. Academic knowledge is a "head" thing. But God was not advocating for academic knowledge... In a profoundly prophetic way, God told Ezekiel to let all His words sink deep into his heart! In this way, God Himself was prophesying of Jesus Christ because only Jesus could deal with the inherent wicked deceitful condition of man's heart! This is priority #1.

NOTE: It must be recognized that the academic knowledge referred to here is relative to each and every human mind. The amount of God's Word attained academically to overflow into the intellectual's heart will appear greater than that of a child whose mind is easily filled and overflows to his heart. The point is not the academia, but that the human mind (bucket), regardless of its size or capacity, is filled to overflow deep into the heart. In this way, the Bible preaches "Jesus" to young and old, intellectual and imbecile alike.

Father, may our first priority be Jesus Christ! May we come to know Him as we know Your Word and it overflows deep into our hearts!