Oh how sweet, how sweet it is, to hear my darling niece Mady sing the song “Honey in the Rock” when she’s on the worship team!
Do you think it’s important to carefully choose the songs we sing in church worship? Maybe you haven’t given that much thought. I want you to know that our worship Pastor, Ryan Clair, takes it very seriously. “I thoroughly check to be sure we are singing biblical truth,” Ryan said recently.
That’s why I wasn’t surprised when the lyric from the song, “Honey in the Rock” showed up in my Bible reading plan this week. Did you know it’s from the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:13? As Moses described God’s care of His people Israel he declared, “He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag.”
God’s care for His people is never stingy. He generously gives not just basic provision, but sweet nourishment to his children. And He brings sweetness out of places that make no sense: Honey from a rock. Water from a stone. Manna on the ground.
Where in your life have you seen Him bringing richness from barrenness? Syrupy sweetness from solid stone?
Maybe you’ve got a family tree full of addiction and by God’s grace your home is free of that. Maybe you made a bunch of foolish financial decisions in your early adulthood but you are finally living on a budget. Maybe your family of origin has been devastated by divorce and dysfunction. And here you are with a happy marriage and a couple sweet kids. Or maybe you were a terrible friend as a teenager but now you have learned to have authentic, caring relationships..
We all have a story. And for all of us who have trusted Jesus, our story has a new destiny that has been radically changed by God’s sweet provision. He has turned every single one of our spiritual lives around. The honey He brought out of the rock for all of us looks like:
Instead of that, this:
- Instead of enemies…We are friends
- Instead of unclean…We are holy
- Instead of lost…We are found
- Instead of in darkness…We are in His marvelous light
- Instead of living for self…We are living for God
- Instead of in the kingdom of darkness…We are in the kingdom of the Son He loves
- Instead of slaves…we are Free
- Instead of far away…We are united to God
So even if you feel like in some ways you’re still stuck, wandering in a desert wasteland, waiting for God to show up with some honey for you, remember to thank Him for the ways that He already has. He gave you His best. He gave you His Son. And Jesus’ love is better than life and sweeter than honey.
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Psalm 34:8).