Since I have been busy making sure chicks are happy, getting sap from the sugar bush, and boiling it down to syrup I haven’t been able to do much blogging. So when I’m busy I’ll try to post somethings that I have written in previous newsletters we have sent out. This particular piece comes from ponderings on how God makes His invisible attributes clearly perceived within His creation (Romans 1:19-20). My apologies to those of you who might have read this before.

God has made us in many marvelous ways. And all of these marvelous ways point to Him if we take a moment to consider them. One feature we have been given is the ability to taste sweet stuff. God did not merely give us food as a source of energy, rather he gave us taste buds. We can go beyond surviving on food to savoring food. Oh how good it is to bite into a sweet juicy orange or to crunch into a crisp, succulent pea pod! We all have something sweet that we have a hankering for on occasion. It might be an old fashioned doughnut or fresh juicy peach. Now one of these is quite a bit healthier for you than the other.

God uses His good creation to illustrate spiritual truths in ways that we can grasp. So how does having the ability to enjoy sweet things (both healthy and unhealthy) figure into spiritual truth? In Psalm 119:103 the sweet taste of honey is used to help us understand how the psalmist delights in God’s word. In Proverbs 9 the woman named Folly calls out to the simpleton that, “stolen water is sweet.” Here are two very different kinds of spiritual sweets. The wise psalmist highlights the sweetness of God’s word. The foolish woman highlights the sweetness of ill gotten gain. Where do these proclamations of longings for spiritual sweets come from? There seems to be a distinct connection with what our mouth says and the condition of our hearts (Matthew 12:34). Thus a good heart will savor God’s word and a bad heart will savor the products of sin. Isn’t it wonderful how God reveals to us in His word how our hearts can be captivated by both good and bad sweets, just like our physical tongues can be captivated by both healthy and unhealthy sweets.  And just like a peach is designed to do us good while we savor it, so to God’s word is designed to do us good while we savor it. Isn’t God good to us?

So, have you been finding God’s word sweet lately? If not, try to savor some of the promises God has for you in His word today (try Psalm 23, Romans 8, or Ephesians 2 for starters). If you have been finding His word particularly sweet, why not share that sweetness with others(in person or comment below)?