Sweet as Honey

“It was covered with...lamentation and wailing and woe!” Ezekiel 2:10

Ezekiel was a prophet and priest who was deported along with other Jewish exiles to Babylon in 497 B.C. When the Jews were disobedient and refused to listen to God, Ezekiel received this Word from the Lord, “Do not join them in being a rebel. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.” Ezekiel saw a hand reaching out to him with a scroll. When he unrolled the scroll, both sides were covered with funeral songs, words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom. He opened his mouth in obedience and found that the scroll was as sweet as honey!!! 

There was a ludicrous story that President Trump chewed and swallowed a sensitive document after talking to his lawyer Michael Cohen. I am sure if that were true, the paper could not have been sweet as honey. How could the scroll Ezekiel swallowed be sweet as honey? 

God’s Words are not easy to take. The Jews were always rebelling and disobedient even after they personally saw miracles and wonders. By nature, we want to do our own thing, follow our own path, and be in control of our own destiny. That’s why God’s Word, His Laws with it’s Dos and Do Nots give us woe and lamentation. We think that obeying God curtails our happiness. I remember listening to Michael Ramsden’s story of conversion. He is one of the very interesting apologists in Ravi Zacharias’ ministry. He grew up enjoying his privileged life very much and he believed that once he became a Christian he would not be happy anymore. That’s what a lot of people believe. Some say they’ll obey God when they’re old already, and get ready for death. 

What most people don’t realize is when we put ourselves in God’s hands and obey Him, our life is more fulfilled, more complete, more joy filled than if we go our own way. Reading God’s Word every day is not only as sweet as honey, it can be super exciting as a treasure hunt as well!