Sweeter Than Honey

'How sweet are Thy words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103)

The power of God's word to nourish and uplift, beloved, came home to my wife and me this past week in a wonderful and heart-touching way! She was sitting in the living room and I working at my desk on some notes for an upcoming message. Suddenly, I stopped still and began to listen. My mother-in-law was singing! She was not merely repeating words said to her but was actually singing on her own as she lay in her hospital bed to which she has been confined for a very long time. You must understand that at this stage in her 92-year old life her bedroom is pretty much her whole world. For the most part she lies in bed either sleeping or watching television or eating a meal. That is her life. That is her world.

But it was not primarily the fact that she was singing that caught our attention as we both stopped what we were doing to listen in amazement. It was what she was singing! I rose from my chair and went to the door of her room, standing just outside in the hallway so that I could hear every word. Again you must understand that Bev's mom does not speak, not on her own anyway. All she can say in response to anything is "No way." But this time she was singing - her choice of words without prompting and her choice of song. Would you like to know what she was singing?

At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away;
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day.

Grammy was worshiping the Lord, singing to Him the love of her heart, and that with a body that has been greatly damaged by stroke and seizures. As limited physically as she certainly is, unable to do much of anything for herself anymore, she was demonstrating that her spirit knows no bounds, that her heart is as free and flying as high as it could possibly be. Instead of bemoaning her fate, she has chosen to sing to the Lord about her redemption and to glory in the cross that gave her that redemption.

I cannot tell you in words that will convey it the joy that flooded over me as I stood outside her door and listened to her song of praise. And as I have thought about that moment in the several days that have passed since it happened, these words of the psalmist came to my mind. In her own special way, Bev's mom was telling her Savior "how sweet" His words are to her taste, how much sweeter even than honey they are to her. How often have I, when suffering far less than what she has suffered, forgotten to give glory to God and to sing His praises in the midst of my circumstances. What a wonderful lesson I learned in that moment, beloved! I want to never again forget how sweet are God's words to my spirit, how even sweeter than honey they are to me. I want to focus all the time on what God in His grace and because of His mercy has done for me. I want to join Grammy in her song and praise His lovely name!

Ron