"How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter then honey to my mouth!"
Have you ever tasted words? I know, people always tell you "be careful what you say, you may eat those words one day." But you've never actually eaten words. Literally eaten them. It's just a saying, right?
We've been told often enough that there are no wasted words in Scripture, that everything is important and has meaning. But what about this verse? We've read it and others like it, but probably have never REALLY thought what it's saying to us. We just take it as an abstract teaching or a metaphor. But it's not.
In Biblical times, when the Jewish boys went to synagogue to learn the Torah, they didn't have pencil and paper or computers to write on. They were given a piece of slate stone and a sharpened stick, or stylus, to write with. The slate stone was covered over with a layer of honey, and as the boys copied the Torah on the honey-glazed slate to memorize it, the stylus would become thickened and it wouldn't write legibly. The boys would lick the stylus clean and continue writing. And of course, the honey was sweet. They therefore came to equate the Word of God with sweetness. And even better. The author writes " . . . sweeter then honey . . . " They were literally eating the words of the Lord.
How fabulous that is when you think about it. Writing the word of God and then putting those words physically into your mouth. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Today the believer doesn't need to do that. From the moment of our receiving Jesus into our hearts, we have been indwelt with the Holy Spirit, our teacher. As we read the Word and study and pray, He infuses our spirits with knowledge and wisdom and understanding and we begin to know the sweetness of God's Word. It becomes part of us, we feed on it. Oh my, but it's luscious.
The Red Robin commercial is really good. You just hear the music or the words and you automatically think of something good to eat. That's how we are to become with the Word of God. As soon as we hear it, our spirits should begin to salivate and our hearts drool for want of more. Yummmmmmmmmmmm. The term "feast on the Lord" takes on a whole new meaning.
Is your soul hungry for something good to eat? Do you feel you're not getting what you what when you come to the table of God? Do you leave your studies and prayer time still feeling hungry and unsatisfied? Have you asked Jesus to give you a spiritual hunger for the things of God and then satisfy you with His Holy Spirit teaching? God is good. Start taking bigger bites and chewing more slowly. Savor the taste of the Lord and enjoy His sweetness.
And if all else fails, write in honey.
"Lord Jesus, give me a deep, deep hunger for You and the Word. Like the woman at the well I was thirsting. For things that did not satisfy. . . Fill my cup, Lord, I lift it up, Lord. Come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of Heaven, feed me till I want no more . . . fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole. "
Supporting Scriptures:
Psalm 19:10
34:8
42:2
Isaiah 5:13
55:1
Matthew 5:6
John 6:35
Acts 2:42
20:7
Hebrews 12:5
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