Late night cravings were the death of me in college. And by me, I do mean my BMI.
I can remember so many times where either I would text my friend or he would text me those two little words: “taco bell?”. This probably happened a little too often. And if it wasn’t taco bell, it was McDonald’s.
Our late night trips to the bell were not prompted because we hadn’t eaten dinner. Most times we had eaten, but it had been from the cafeteria at our college. Now, I in no way want to diss my school, but with the most respect possible I say- our cafeteria just wasn’t it. The only day I truly enjoyed eating in the cafeteria was chicken tendie day.
Please hear me say that I am so thankful that we had food- I don’t want to seem ungrateful. We never had to worry about going to bed hungry. But, we didn’t always head to bed satisfied. Hence the late night cravings.
We lacked that tasty dinner that our stomachs desired before we ended our day of learning.
Fast forward to this week, I’ve been looking into a song that is slowly on the uphill charge of gaining attention in contemporary church worship services.
I first heard “Honey in the Rock” at a pastor’s and leadership conference I attended over the summer through the Nazarene church. The group leading the worship for the retreat started the song and whereas my initial first thought was “wow, this sounds pretty”, my second was "Huh?".
Honey in the Rock? What does that mean? I sat through the song attempting to sing along, but I finally retreated to my thoughts. I wanted to understand exactly what those lyrics meant.
I knew there was a reference to the lyrics in Scripture, but it took listening to the song a couple times to understand exactly what the song meant.
This week, as I have preparing to introduce the song to my congregation, I have been working to decipher the best way to present the song so that they don't have to spend the entire time trying to figure out exactly what the lyrics mean.
In doing so, the Lord has reminded me of so many truths. And as always, they're actually quite simple.
This song carries a heavy theme of God being a Provider. Even more so than this, it presents the idea of God as our ultimate satisfaction.
Starting with the idea of God the Provider, the lyrics remind believers of the acts of provision shown throughout the Old Testament. In Exodus 16 God reigned down manna from Heaven to quench the hunger of the Israelites as they wandered in the desert. In the next chapter (Exodus 17) the Lord provides by commanding Moses to strike a stone with his rod in order for water to flow out for His people.
These are easy to recognize, but insanely important to understand. The Israelites continually complained, even saying that the Lord has brought them to the desert to die. Even through their complaints, God provides with food and water to sustain them.
Our God is a God who provides through our bad attitudes and complaints when we don't get what we thought we deserved.
It just may not be what we expected it to look like.
Now as if the characteristic of provision isn't enough, we can now move forward into the meaning of the phrase "honey in the rock".
"But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock
I would satisfy you."
Psalm 81:16
Not only does our God provide, but He satisfies.
In Psalm 119:103, we see that the word of the Lord is like sweet honey on our lips. In Psalm 19 we see that the declares, statutes, precepts, and so on are more precious than gold, and that they are sweeter than honey from the honeycomb.
What He has given us goes far beyond what we need for our physical life on earth. He gives us the chance to live a life of satisfaction in Him. Not only does this stress our need for Jesus, but our need to live by His words and precepts.
When we dig into His word, we will be graced with the sweetness of His truth.
Our belief and on going relationship with Christ is also something that we should continually lean into. John 6:35 tells us that Jesus is the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to Him will not hunger, and whoever believes in Him will never thirst. In John 4, Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman at the well, telling her that the water from the well will leave her thirsty, but that water that Jesus offers will never make her thirst again.
When we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we never have to hunger or thirst again. Of course, this isn't necessarily a physical stance, but a spiritual and internal stance. We will be full of satisfaction because we don't need anything else.
Like for me, whereas the cafeteria provided food, I was left unsatisfied. I was left with a craving. This craving was developed from a lack of something.
When you know Jesus, we develop what I would refer to as a holy craving.
Holy cravings aren't derived from a lack of something; they develop because you have tasted from the sweetness of the honeycomb.
This craving isn't to stimulate a continual feeling of satisfaction, rather it is the desire to grow and know Jesus better; to lean into His truths.
Unlike the satisfaction of a good meal that slowly fades away, the satisfaction we can find in Christ is one that will never leave us. The Lord gives us exactly what we need when needed. He has never stopped providing. He has never stopped satisfying. But knowing this, we must never stop remembering.
"For He satisfied the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things."
Psalm 107:9
The Bible literally promises that the Lord will satisfy us. We must simply long for that satisfaction and strive to know Jesus.
And our response to this satisfaction should be trust.
Because even knowing the feeling of Christ's satisfaction, in our flesh we can begin to doubt. We can doubt that the power of God can and will pull us through hard times. We forget that even when things aren't going our way, they are going His way.
A response of trust is required in able to truly walk in Christ. And as the song sings, "oh how sweet it is to trust in you Jesus." Because when we trust, all we have to do is lean into Jesus and what it is He has for us.
So today I urge you to consider these attributes of God:
God the Provider
God the Satisfier
God the Trustworthy
Ask yourself where God has proved those attributes to be true within you own life.
Ask God in which aspects of your life you could lean into those attributes.
Reflect on the eternal satisfaction you can find in Jesus Christ today.
Songs for reflection, prayer, and singing :
"Honey in the Rock" - Brooke Ligertwood, Brandon Lake
"Christ is Enough" - Hillsong Worship
"As the Deer" - Steffany Gretzinger
"'Tis so Sweet" - Shane & Shane
"Graves into Gardens" - Bethel Music, Brandon Lake
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