Something to Think About – “Honey out of the Rock”
By Dennis Love
McDowell County
Psalm 81:16
In this verse, we have one of the greatest promises God has ever given to His people. The promise is simply that out of the hard experiences of life, God will bring us some sweetness. This verse says that He will satisfy us with “Honey out of the Rock” experiences of this life. For more than a month we have been faced with many “rock experiences.” I have never preached to an empty church before. I have never been told that I could not go see a church member in the hospital before. I have never been told that I could not enter a nursing facility and pray with residents in that facility. I have never been told to stay at home before. I have never been told that we could not assemble together as a church family before. This is what most of us would call “rock experiences.” It is what most of us would refer to as hard places in our lives.
But the promise here is God will give us honey out of these hard places in our lives. Here’s what God is saying, “You’re going to have some hard places in your life. There’s going to be times that we all encounter some rocks in life, but don’t get disheartened and discouraged, because you will experience some sweetness out of those hard places in your life.” I really believe our best days as the church is right now before us. I really believe your best days as a believer is right now before you. I really believe our best days as a nation is right now before us. God has already brought some sweetness from Covid-19, and He will continue to do so because that’s the promise we have here in Psalm 81:16. None of us enjoy the “rock experiences” of life, but we sure do need them! If you will take a moment and look back on your life, you will see that some of the sweetest experiences of life have come from the rocks or the hard places of life. That was true of Joseph. For thirteen years he had nothing but ROCKS in his life. He was hated by his brothers—ROCKS. He was sold as a slave into Egypt—ROCKS. He was thrown into prison—ROCKS. But when it was all over, Joseph discovered honey from the rocks. It was those rock experiences that elevated him to be second in charge of Egypt. Joseph experienced honey from the rock.
This was also true of Jesus. If anybody knew about rock experiences, it was our Lord Himself. Have you ever thought about all the rocks Jesus faced when He walked among us? He was born into a poor family—ROCKS. He was despised and rejected by men—ROCKS. When He did good, somebody tried to turn it into evil—ROCKS. They spit upon Him—ROCKS. They mocked and ridiculed Him—ROCKS. They gave Him vinegar to drink—ROCKS. They took Him to a rock hill called Golgotha—ROCKS. They took His body and placed it in a tomb—ROCKS. They then rolled a rock stone in front of that tomb—ROCKS. His dead and lifeless body laid for three days in that rock tomb—ROCKS. But early on the third day, up from the dead He rose and from a rock tomb called Calvary flows for you and me today the sweet honey of salvation and the sweet honey of eternal life in a wonderful place called heaven where Covid-19 will never enter that city. Now that is something for us all to think about!
________________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Dennis Love is the Senior Pastor at Glenwood Baptist Church in Marion, NC. He and his wife Vicki have been married for 39 years. They have been in Marion for 5 years. They have two sons and three grandchildren. You can visit the Glenwood Baptist Church Facebook page or The Glenwood Baptist Church Website
________________________________________________________________________________
