Wouldn’t you agree, God shows up in the strangest of places, in the craziest of ways, and does the coolest of things for us. You cannot predict what he is going to do and how he is going to do it.

It’s going to be unexpected.
It’s not going to be what you thought.
And it’s all for a purpose … the purpose of bringing you back to a God who shows up in your struggle and does the sweetest of things.

Are you currently in a struggle? Then girl, look for the sweetness.

Here in your hardship. Here in this difficulty. Here where you feel hard pressed and stressed, without a clear direction to go, look for evidence of God’s sweetness hidden here for you. It’s here.

Psalm 81:16 “But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”

As the Israelites faced the hardship of the wilderness, they found something from God hidden away for them in the hardest of places. Deep within the crevices of the rocks in the desert, was honey. When there was no tree for the bees to build their hive, they began building in the rocks instead.

Yes, that’s nature, but who do you think directs nature? The same One who created it! Our Almighty God. By his great design, he caused the honey to be hidden in the hardest of places to bring sweetness in their struggle.

Yesterday in Church, we sang this song, “Honey in the Rock”. Not only had I never heard the song before, but I had never noticed the story in scripture before either. I never knew there could literally be honey in a rock when the land is so barren there are no trees. But with God, all things are possible.

So here, in their desert, here in the place where nothing would grow and hardship was all they faced, they were given an unspeakable sweetness by a God who not only wanted to feed them, but wanted to satisfy them.

Sweet girl, have you found your honey? Have you found what God wants to use to go above and beyond just helping you get through this? Have you found the sweetness he wants to provide here in your hardship? Have you found the satisfaction of God’s hidden treasures in hard places?

For the Israelites, honey was like a magical substance. Before the days of an abundance of sweeteners with a million kinds of sugary snacks on our shelves, honey was the most treasured sweetness found. Not only did it taste good, but it was used for medicinal purposes as well.

Beekeeping was a regular part of life in Egypt. As slaves there, the Israelites likely tended the bees and knew of their hives in trees. But now, their newly found freedom had them wandering through a wilderness where there was no food. No harvest. No goodness. All of that had been left behind in Egypt.

BUT GOD …

But God can provide the best of things even in the hardest of circumstances. God can show up with the sweetest of gifts where you were never expecting a gift at all. So right there, in the crevices of the rocks in the wilderness, they discovered honey.

We all know God rained down manna from heaven that would feed them during their hard journey, but did you know God also provided such a sweet surprise to satisfy them as well?

And did you know he will do the same for you?

You may be in survival mode, just trying to get through what you’re going through. You may be on the struggle bus, and maybe it feels like the struggle bus has gotten stuck in a pit of despair and you’re never getting out. Hey Sis, there just might be some honey for you here.

Have you found your honey? Have you found satisfaction from the hand of God here in this struggle? Have you tasted of his sweetness? He has something here for you, and it will never be what you expected, how you expected it, or where you expected to find it. It’s up to you to look for it.

God, where is my honey here? Where are you providing not only manna for my survival, but honey for my sweet satisfaction?

Looking back, do you see it too? Do you see what I see?

I see honey hidden all in my hardest of times. I see how previously clouded priorities became crystal clear. I see how the stupid stuff I was stressing over was put in it’s rightful place, so I could truly value the important stuff. I see how time slowed down and the nonsense melted away. I see how some of the sweetest of moments unfolded right in the hardest of times. I see how memories were made, important things were said, and breakthroughs happened, smack dab in the middle of circumstances I would have chosen to avoid.

This doesn’t typically happen in the good times. This happens in our wilderness. This happens when we’ve left something so hard, heading towards something so much better, but never realized how tough the journey would be in between. Here in the in between we find our honey.

Honey in the rock.

Sweetness in the hardship.

Unexpected satisfaction that takes us beyond just surviving.

Here is where we learn the faithfulness of our God. Here is where we experience the goodness of his plan. Here is where we are sustained in ways we could have never imagined and find our deepest joys even when life is far from perfect.

Honey in the rock.

Yes, sweetness in the hardship.

There’s one more story of honey in scripture we should take a look at today. In Judges 14, we read of Samson getting in a fight with a lion. With the Spirit of the Lord empowering him, he tore the lion apart with his bare hands. Later, when Samson returned to the sight of this fight, he found bees had built a hive in the lion carcass and it was now filled with honey. Verse 9 says “He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along.”

Why is this important for us today? It’s important because we’ve all been in a battle along the way. You had to go through a major struggle on your journey to get where you are today. Your past was not easy. Now God is saying, go back and see what I can do with where you have struggled before. Go back and see what sweetness I have put in the very thing that threatened to kill you once.

You no longer have to be afraid of what almost took you out before. There’s a carcass back there. You may just find honey in it now. A sweetness of a full circle story. A purpose birthed out of that pain. A goodness ready for you to harvest, but you have to be willing to go back and see what God has done there.

BUT DON’T STAY THERE. Don’t stay at the carcass. Find the sweetness there and keep moving. Samson scooped out the honey and he went along. That’s important. He didn’t pitch a tent at the sight of the fight. He found the sweetness and he went on.

Isn’t our God sweet to us? Isn’t he faithful to not only sustain us, but satisfy us?

Have you found your honey?

Have you found where God has allowed something delightful to grow from what was once a danger?
Have you found where God has turned something painful into a greater purpose?
Have you found where God has offered you honey in the exact place of your greatest hardship?

Look for it. Ask God to help you discover it.

God, where is my honey in the rock?

The song says it so well:

There’s honey in the rock
Water in the stone
Manna on the ground
No matter where I go
I don’t need to worry now that I know
Everything I need you’ve got
There’s honey in the rock

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