I started reading through the book of Hosea the other morning in my devotional time, and something jumped out at me right off the bat.  The first chapter opens by saying in :2, “When the Lord first spoke THROUGH Hosea, the Lord said TO Hosea …” and it went on to describe what He told him to do.  I thought the wording there was very revealing: that when God spoke THROUGH Hosea, He spoke TO him first! 

I think this is important, because a lot of people want God to speak “through” them.  They want to be the preacher, or the teacher, or the evangelist, or the one through whom the message from God will come.  But fewer really want God to speak TO them.  One friend recently posted: “Why do we preachers often desire to be an instrument of revival, and not so much the objects … of revival?”  Well put!  Many of us want God to speak THROUGH us, but not TO us. 

I would submit to you that if God is going to effectively speak THROUGH you to others, He must first speak TO you personally: about YOUR sins, YOUR attitudes, YOUR needs.  And then out of the overflow of what God is speaking to you about, you can minister to others.  Ezra 7:10 says “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to PRACTICE it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”  Ezra did not merely teach God’s word to others; he studied and practiced it personally first.  That is another way of saying that he let God speak TO him, not just THROUGH him. 

This is why it is vital for those who are pastoring or ministering to others in any way to have a daily personal time with the Lord. How can He speak through you if you are not letting Him speak TO you?  One of the dangers that Christian servants fall into is spending their Bible reading time looking for messages for other people, rather than allowing Him to speak to THEM personally.  I remember reading a number of years ago that a very well-known preacher said that he did not need a personal daily Bible reading time, because he already studied the Bible 40 hours a week for his sermons.  I disagreed with him then, and I still do now.  There can be a HUGE difference between studying for a message to deliver to others, and reading the Bible for your own conviction and edification.  Don’t let your Sunday School preparation time replace your own personal daily Bible reading.  Do not let your personal scripture reading become merely a time to find sermon topics for other people.  God knows I preach sermons all the time from things He has shown me in His word in my quiet time (this blog included!) but when I do, He has spoken it to ME first.  In fact I have often told our folks who commented on how one of my messages convicted them, that they were just getting to listen in on how God was getting on to ME!  If I am going to be the preacher and minister that God wants me to be, I must be the MAN God wants me to be — and that means I need to have a personal word from the Lord every day.  Not just a word for others — but a word from God for ME! 

I don’t believe it was an accident that God said it the way He did: “When the Lord first spoke THROUGH Hosea, the Lord said TO Hosea …”.  For God to effectively speak THROUGH you, He must first speak TO you.  It was true for Hosea — and I believe it is true for you and me as well.