People love cooking shows. The first one was a radio broadcast in 1924 featuring the fictional character, Betty Crocker. The first televised show, hosted by chef Philip Harben, debuted in 1946. Today there are not only hundreds of cooking shows, but there are also entire networks (plural) dedicated to broadcasting them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
With that large of a market it’s clearly not only cooks that tune in. People are attracted to food even when they’re not preparing or eating it. While many foods are an acquired taste, one is not—sweets! Of course there are lots of people that turn down dessert, but I don’t think there is anyone who claims to not like any form of sweets. Everyone has at least one temptation. It’s the thing your sweet tooth alerts to when you see it in the case.
The Creator knows this about people and uses it as analogy in several places in Scripture. In fact, it’s used about Scripture.
More to be desired are [the rules of the Lord] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Ps. 19:10)
Perhaps you’ve had someone, with a twinkle in her eye, hand you an oversized piece and say, “Don’t worry, it’s good for you.” You know better. However, when it comes to the Bible, the very thing that is “sweeter than the drippings of the honeycomb” is good for you—very good for you! Taking it in and living by it comes with a huge payoff.
This is reiterated in Psalm 119:97-104. The one that loves God’s law and meditates on it is wiser than his enemies. It holds him back from every evil way. The passage continues, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Ps. 119:103). The effects of “consuming” God’s Word are wholly positive. They bring joy while simultaneously providing safety.
The sustaining effect of the Word of God is what’s in view in Deuteronomy 8:3 where He told Moses that “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” The content of the Bible is what prepared the prophets, like Moses, to deliver God’s message to people that would not listen. This applied to Ezekiel’s commission as well.
And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. (Ezek. 3:1–3)
Ezekiel’s stomach would later turn bitter because the people would reject the message, but the original sweetness of the scroll that he experienced was the gospel truth being imparted to him. The same happened to John in Revelation 10:9. “And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.”
Do you find the Bible as appealing as the treat behind the glass? What if it pleased you to consume by reading, listening to, talking about and meditating on it? God’s Word is better in every way than oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, carrot cake or salted caramel gelato. There is no pudding, pie or pastry that will bring you greater satisfaction than the Word of God. Make time for Scripture. Cherish it. Look forward to it. Savor its every bite. Don’t worry, it’s good for you!
My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off. (Prov. 24:13–14)