How sweet are your words to my taste!
They are sweeter than honey to my mouth.
(Psalm 119:103)
When my older daughter was in middle school, she did the painting pictured above. It's simple, but I've always loved it for its simplicity. The color, position and prominence of the bees and honey jar contribute to how it pops on the canvas – but so does the gray, muted background. Together the effect for me provokes a real interest in the life of the bees and the honey they produce because there's nothing else in the painting to compare it to.
The verses above from our Psalm reading this coming Sunday provide a simile that we can all relate to: the sweetness of honey. The psalmist employs this simile because in nature nothing comes close to the taste of honey. And for David, nothing came close to experiencing Scripture because it connected him to God and shaped his heart, life and actions. This is very clear as this particular Psalm (dedicated to God's Word) is the longest by far with no less than 176 verses!
Do you struggle with experiencing God's Word in this way? If I'm honest, I sometimes do. At times there's just a feeling of dryness, as if I'm not eating honey but rather a piece of crusty bread. So what is the answer?
I think part of the answer for me lies in what else is occupying my headspace. Have I really taken the time to enter in, or are a thousand other things swirling around as I seek the Lord? To truly experience the impact of God's voice in our lives, we must learn to mute our backgrounds so his Word can become the focal point of our hearts.
This isn't always easy, but there are some practices that can be helpful. One is a very simple prayer of release. As you prepare for devotional time with the Lord offer him everything. One author suggests this prayer:
Jesus, I give everyone and everything to you. I give everyone and everything to you, God.
In essence here, you're surrendering all to God and asking him to mute your background, so you can enter more deeply into fellowship with him.
Try it. Say the prayer out loud several times slowly as you take some deep breaths. Of course, this is not like an incantation; mediation takes practice and consistency. But I think as you deliberately slow down and enter into God's presence by releasing all to him first, he will delight you again with his Word like "honey to your mouth."
Fr. Darin+
P.S. There's an excellent app that I sometimes use to help with this. Check it out here.