Honey from the rock

My favourite moment this week was being fed spoonfuls of frothy latte by my granddaughter.

Today I read Psalm 81. God says, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it!”( v 10)

I wonder do you know how much God longs to feed you?

Sometimes I am so busy that I don’t notice I’m hungry. It’s only when I stop that I realise I’m starving. That’s true physically and spiritually. It’s only when I quieten my heart that I recognise that I am famished, that I am ravenously hungry for God, longing for his presence..

God says, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it”.

The Psalm tells us that God longs to feed us more than the most devoted mother longs to feed her baby (or granddaughter her granny). But in the Psalm, God’s people miss out. He calls for them to open their mouths but they ignore him. He says “If only you would let me feed you” but they refuse to listen to him and follow his ways.

Still God does not give up and the Psalmist finishes with a final plea from God to his people - his offer to feed us with the finest of wheat, to satisfy us with honey from the rock.

I love this picture of honey from a rock. Of all places to find honey, who would expect a rock? But apparently rock bees literally drill themselves a home in a rock in the desert. In the middle of the wilderness, God fed his wandering people with sweet honey (Deuteronomy 32:13)..

And now for us, God provides a spiritual rock in our wilderness world in Jesus (1 Cor 10:4) and he is full of honey, sweeter than all the bitterness in our lives. If we will but listen to him and follow his ways.

What a promise - of unexpected sweetness in barren harsh places. Whatever you are facing this week, God wants to surprise you with his presence there.

There is so much more I could say on this beautiful picture but I will leave it with you to open wide your mouth and ask the Lord to feed your hungry soul today.