Psalm 19: 9b-10, "The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb" (NIV).
The decrees of the LORD is the Word of God or Scripture, the Bible.
I'm liking the food analogy here because for the past couple of months I've been focused on giving our family a more healthy life style. In his book, "Living by the Book", Howard Hendrix gives his own analogy, but since food has been kind of a big deal for me for a little while now I have my own analogy brewing.
It wasn't very long ago that apples or any fruit I bought grocery shopping would go bad in our fridge before anyone would bother eating it. Personally, I'd look right passed them to the box of Rice Krispies and bag of marshmallows! I was really loving my Rice Krispie Treats in those days; at one point I gained 30 lbs in a month from eating so many sheets of them. For some reason I couldn't manage to pick up that apple, but I could polish off a tray of RKT with in 24 hours all by myself. Yes, what I surrendered yesterday was my sugar addiction and my compulsion to binge & overeat. I fasted sugar for lent, but the 2 weeks following it became abundantly clear that I have a problem that I never recognized before. I suppose I'll be surrendering it everyday from here on out. The point is that even if something is delicious and sweet like an apple doesnt mean we're going to reach for that healthy option like reaching for Scripture. I recognize that not everyone is going to look at sugar like its bad, but consider this: sugar can cause diabetes, it tells your body to store fat, its considered a carcinogen, must I go on? Do your own research if you're not buying it. Lets just say for argument's sake though that sugar is really really harmful to the human body and then compare it to what we tend to lean toward to satisfy our "spiritual sweet tooth." Does the phrase "retail therapy" come to mind? or maybe since "its been a hard day we should go out to eat-- or just sit here with a bag of chips and taco dip"--that phrase doesn't mean I'll be choosing something healthy either. What about calling a friend and gossiping about all the wrong that's been done to you? maybe sinking so much into TV shows, etc which basically turns into ignoring everything going on on the inside? There are so many different things people turn to instead of God, its uncanny. Mine have at different periods been any of the things I named sometimes all at once and sometimes one at a time.
Reaching for the apple instead of the brownie mix for the first time wasn't easy. Really, I choose to eat a ton of different kinds of fruit & I'm so ready for cherries to come back in season... and very excited that we're finally in strawberry season!! It did take me a while to get there and still if I think too long about my grandmother's chocolate cake I'll cave, my mouth is seriously watering right now. Strawberries, strawberries, strawberries... ok... Reading the Bible &/or studying the Bible is the same way. The first time was hard... I had to ease my way into it. I read "Get Out of that Pit" by Beth Moore first, its a fantastic book completely focused on God's GREAT LOVE for us. I was ready to read the Bible again after reading her book, especially since Beth Moore infuses all of her books with scripture! It gave me the taste for "healthy spiritual sweetness" again after years of eating "spiritual junk food."
I'm pretty sure I'm still detoxing from all the "spiritual yuck" that truly tasted good at the time, but I'm realizing more and more how so many of my previous choices take me rapidly from God, even if nothing is innately wrong with any of them. Just like desert Easter Sunday took me 3 weeks into poor dietary choices, away from my weight loss goals & started to trap me in previous compulsive eating. So, now I'm eating of God's "spiritual sweetness" of His Word & of the dietary sweetnesses He created for us to enjoy. The more you make healthy choices, spiritually or otherwise (which really its all connected) the sweeter and more delicious it tastes and your taste buds are revived!
I'm so thankful that God wants to carry me daily helping me to make healthy choices in every aspect of life. and for you too! <3. His Word truly is sweeter than honey!
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