Sweet as Honey, Bitter as medicine

UV 486/10,000 Rev 10 v 10 Sweet as honey, bitter as medicine Rev 10:10 And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. The angel’s hand is an indicator that the Word or the Bible is written and spoken from the mouth of God. We should therefore, not read it as we would read any other book. We should instead “eat “ it. Eating provides strength, energy and health. Similarly, eating the Word will provide us strength, energy and healing. Just as we do not eat only once a day, we need to have frequent bites of the Word. Just as eating involves tasting, biting, chewing, swallowing and digesting, we need to taste, bite, chew,swallow and digest the Word of God. The whole process of eating breaks the Word into tiny, easily digestible morsels. Just as we eat a variety of food to provide different types of nutrients, we need to have a balanced diet and eat from different parts of the Bible: the books of law, the book of Psalms, the book of Proverbs, the books of history, the books of the prophets, the gospels, the epistles or the books of teaching of the early church. The Word of God is sweeter than honey as the taste of honey passes away soon. But, the taste of the Word lingers right through our lives. It brings a spiritual sweetness, flavour and aroma into our lives just as good honey emits a strong aroma. `Just as there are risks of being stung by the bees while trying to extract honey from the beehive, we too could be stung by the world in our pursuit of the truths of the Word. There is a contradiction of terms in this uni-verse as the same Word that is sweet as honey in the mouth becomes bitter in the belly. As we meditate on the Word, it becomes bitter medicine in our inner being. The acid experiences of our lives will further break down the Word like food that is to be assimilated and distributed to diverse body organs. In other words, it brings healing, transformation and blessings into our lives. Prateep V Philip