Honey

I like ice cream!  On a hot summer evening it is easy to persuade me to go get some for dessert. Wouldn’t it be great if broccoli, which is so much better for us, tasted as good as ice cream? Oh yes, I eat my vegetables and they are good, but not in the same way as a DQ Blizzard.™  Truth be told, a meal of nutritionally balanced foods, well prepared, and enjoyed with friends is deeply satisfying, too.

Have you developed an appetite for the Word of God? 

The Psalmist sings - "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103, NIV) He delights in hearing what God says, needing no coaxing to feeding his soul on the wisdom found in the revealed Word.

Last night, right around midnight, a phone call alerted me to a tragic situation.  After the call was completed, I prayed and committed that person and his care to the Father. Finding it hard to go back to sleep, I turned to the Word, to a passage that offers wise counsel for times of trouble. "Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him … Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him…" (Psalm 37:5-7, NIV) The sweet assurance and wonderful peace of God came over me and rest returned for the remainder of the night.  In the days that followed Bev’s death several years ago, I would find myself feeling like life was over, my heart enveloped in grief.  I would turn to the “honey” of the Word, to a promise of God.  I read that He "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us … " (Ephesians 3:20, NIV)  That passage, read often in those days, renewed hope.

At the beginning of this new week, let me encourage you to spend some time with God’s Word. Feed your soul, inform your mind, with eternal wisdom. Let it become as delightful as honey, your source of guidance, your anchor point for life, your wisdom.  Need a starting place? Let me suggest the Word from Paul in Ephesians – where God’s amazing purposes and love are revealed;  or turn to the 3^rd chapter of John’s gospel and wonder at the promise of new birth;  or, read the entire 37^th Psalm for practical instructions about walking in faith.

Yes, the Word becomes alive to us when the Holy Spirit makes us responsive to Him. So read it and live!

Here is a word from the Word. May God bless you with it.  "Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. …  Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight. …  you are near, O LORD, and all your commands are true. Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever." (Psalm 119:129-130, 143, 151-152, NIV)

______

Abba, I am joyful in Your revelation.

Open my eyes, grant understanding.

Teach me to love Your Word with true delight,

like I love ice cream.

May the Truth fill me with wisdom,

lead me to Your grace, and

cause me to find the richness of the Life of the Spirit.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen