APRIL 15, 2014
Spoonful
Of Sugar
Read: Psalm
19:7-14
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. . . .
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. —Psalm
19:9-10
Where is Mary Poppins
when you need her? I know this sounds as if I’m longing for the good old days
when cheerfully unrealistic movies featured characters like this fictional
nanny, but what I’m really longing for are people with a vision for the future
that is realistically optimistic. I yearn for joyful, creative people who can
show us the positive side of what we consider negative, who can remind us that
“just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”
David wrote a song
that expressed a similar truth. In his words, “the judgments of the Lord” are
“sweeter also than . . . honey” (Ps. 19:9-10). Seldom do we hear that truth is
sweet. More often we hear that it is bitter or hard to swallow. But truth is so
much more than medicine to treat what’s wrong. It’s the diet that will prevent
disease. It’s not an inoculation or an injection. It’s a gourmet meal that
should be presented as a culinary delight, enticing the hungry to “taste and
see that the Lord is good” (34:8).
We sing “Jesus is the
sweetest name I know,” but some of us present Him as if He’s gone sour. Pure
truth, untainted by pride, is the sweetest, most refreshing taste of all to
those who hunger for spiritual sustenance. And we have the privilege of serving
it to a starving world.
Jesus is the sweetest
name I know,
And He’s just the same
as His lovely name,
And that’s the reason
why I love Him so;
Oh, Jesus is the
sweetest name I know. —Long
The truth of the Lord
endures forever. —Psalm 117:2
Insight
Psalm 19 is a song of
David that celebrates how God has revealed Himself to us—first in His creation
and then in the scriptures. While the psalm does not tell us at what point in
David’s life this song was written, many scholars have suggested that it was in
some way a product of David’s years as a shepherd over his father’s flocks.
Constantly exposed to the wonders of God’s creation, David would have found
ample material to celebrate how the Creator reveals Himself in what He has made
(vv.1-6).
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
