Why Honey From the Rock

In this inaugural episode, I share why and how I came up with Honey from the Rock, and what you can anticipate from this podcast moving forward. I talk about why honey is necessary to our spiritual lives and why Jesus is, in the midst of everything hard and beautiful about this life, truly the honey we need. 

Scriptures and resources discussed in this episode:

• Psalm 71 and 81
• Matthew 11:28-30
• Luke 24:45
• Jude 24
• BibleHub.com

I hope you'll subscribe and that you'll share this with someone who needs encouragement and hope in the midst of life's difficulties! 

You can find me on Instagram / Threads

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Questions? Comments? Email me at: carrie@ps8116.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:03

Hey everyone, welcome to the inaugural episode of Honey from the Rock. My name is Carrie, and I am your host of this brand new podcast. I am so happy you're here. I'm also a little bit nervous, if I'm being honest. Um, this is something I have dreamed about doing for the last 14 years. A podcast about my walk with the Lord, sharing what Jesus has taught me about who he is, about his word, um, learning how the Father is a good father and how the Holy Spirit is our leader. He is the spirit of truth who leads us into all truth. And now to be here to hit record today and share the heart behind why I'm starting this podcast is huge. It's huge. So if you hear me nervous laugh throughout this podcast, I'm just gonna tell you I'm not gonna edit it out because I am also learning through this whole process about presence over perfection and really not trying to work something to death until I feel like it's perfect. Because guess what? It's never going to be. So I hope that you enjoy this episode. I also hope that you will subscribe and join me every week as we dig into the word, as we search for the honey in the cleft of the rock, as we talk about ways that Jesus has given us honey in the midst of darkness and difficulty and grief and disappointment, and also how he's given us honey in life's amazing moments. And sometimes it will just be me talking, other times I will bring friends and even family on here because I think it's important to not just hear my voice, but also to hear from the people that the Lord has brought into my life that have shaped my experiences, that have taught me so much about following the Lord, about what it looks like to be a faithful disciple of Jesus. And I want you to learn from their collective wisdom and witness as well. So I'm so excited to launch this podcast. But before I get into the rest of that, whatever that is, I guess, I want to share really my heart behind why honey from the rock is so important to me. So this the last six years have been difficult to say the least. There's been a lot. And and individually for me and my family, we've we've suffered a lot of loss, which I will talk about. But also, you think about the last five or six years, you think about COVID and lockdowns and just being alone and and then just all sorts of things in our country and and gosh, it's just been unsettling. And I know I've seen I've I've seen a lot of things online and I've talked to a lot of people in my life about really feeling sometimes that that unsettledness about what does our future look like? Where are we going? What's what's happening? And just the consistent reminder that our future may be uncertain and and the things that are happening may be uncertain. But Jesus is the constant. He is faithful, he is with us. He said he would never leave us or forsake us. And he means that when life is good and we're on the mountaintop, and he definitely means that when we are in the valley and life is difficult and it is hard and it is bitter and it is grievous. And it's in those times where the Lord's honey has been so sweet and so good to me. And this year uh, again, has been particularly difficult. Um, and I found a song by Brooke Lighterwood and Brandon Lake called Honey in the Rock. I love this song. It has become one of my anthem worship songs because I love that it is a powerful declaration that even though I'm in the wilderness and it is sandy and it is hot and it is gross and I am sweating and it's the worst, that the Lord provides. He provides manna, he provides mercy, um, he provides shelter because that is who he is. And many times it's it's hard for us to see those things when we're right in the middle of them for a lot of different reasons. But there are so many times we can look back and say, man, Lord, that honey that you gave me was amazing. And so I heard this song, I've been singing it full blast. I love it's a foot stomper. I love playing it in my car with the windows down. Uh, but then I started to go into scripture and said, you know what, Lord, I want to know more about what you say about honey. Obviously, it's something to eat, but I want to know its spiritual implications. I want to know um what you really say about it. And so, as faithful as the Lord is, he led me to Psalm 81, 16, which is literally where he says, But I would feed you with the finest of wheat, and with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you. Now, I know you notice that when uh the Lord is talking here, he is saying, I would feed you with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you. So why is the Lord talking like this? Well, Psalm 81 is written by Aesaph, which uh he was one of David's chief uh songwriters. He was a prophet. Uh, he wrote Psalm 73, um, which many people know um because it has the verse, who on earth um would I delight in beside you? You know, who on earth earth would I want as a companion beside you, Lord? Um, just amazing the words that the Holy Spirit gave this man. And this psalm is no different. Asaf wrote 11 psalms, um, and this is one of one of them. And he starts out this song with worship, you know, sing to the Lord, worship with joy, all of these things. And then he goes back, as so many writers in the Old Testament do, uh, goes back and says to Israel, remember what the Lord has pulled you out of. Remember his deliverance from Egypt. And in the the cry to remember what the Lord has delivered them from, the Lord then through Aesaph laments about Israel's forsaking him. So I want to read uh verses 11 through 16, but I really encourage you to go and read the whole Psalm because it is amazing. And I'm reading out of the ESV. So uh Psalm 81, verses 11 through 16 says, But my people did not listen to my voice, and Israel did not obey me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk by their own plans. Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways, I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries. Those who hate the Lord would pretend to obey him, and the time of their punishment would be forever. But I would feed you, the Lord is saying, I would feed you with the finest of wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you. I love this section of the verses so much because you can hear the plaintive cry of the Lord, if I can say it like that. There is there is a yearning in the Lord for his people to come back to him, right? He wants them to listen to him, he wants them to obey him because he knows his way is the best. Even though, as Jesus tells us, it's narrow, it's difficult, it is still the best. To listen to the Lord and follow him in his way is what brings us honey from the rock. It's what brings us wheat that makes good bread, you know, when you're not counting carbs. Um, but it's it's what brings us this beautiful walk with the Lord, even in the midst of incredible difficulty. And that's it's what the Lord desires to do for those who walk in his ways. And that's so important. We can't get honey from the Lord if we're separate from him. We can't. And I can tell you from my own experience, things that I have done in my life, ways I have sinned against the Lord, things that I have struggled in, and then been like, why are these things happening to me? Why is this so hard? Well, guess what? Some of it is the consequence of your own rebellion, Carrie. How about that? Right? And so it's it's learning that the Lord desires for us to know him. He wants us to walk with him, he wants us to be with him, and he wants to be with us. There is no honey to be found in life's burdens and life's difficulties without Jesus. It's why he says, Come to me, all of you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, learn of me, take my yoke upon you. That's where the sweetness is, right? That's where the honey is first and foremost. It's in putting on the yoke of Jesus, walking with him, being with him, learning of him, resting in him, so that when life's hard things come, when devastation and grief and tragedy and trauma and things come to us, we know who we can run to. And so I just want to encourage you with that. You know, if we want honey from the rock, we want the bread, that amazing wheat of the Lord that Jesus is the bread of life, we've got to be in him. And that was something the Lord really hit me with when I was digging into this scripture because I wanted to know, you know, obviously honey is honey. But, you know, as with everything in scripture, honey also symbolizes things. And so when I was doing some research, I use Biblehub.com. That's not an advertisement, that's just me talking about how much I love Biblehub.com. It's free. Um, has lots of great commentaries, lexicon, lexicons, um, dictionaries, all of that kind of stuff on it. So I was doing some research, research digging into the word honey. And so according to Brown Driver Briggs lexicon, this honey, which just means honey, in in Psalm 81, it is honey in the rock. And that's what I was saying earlier. Is this rock, this honey can't be found in the rock unless you're in the rock, right? Because Jesus is our rock. Uh, and then they have a really great topical lexicon on Bible Hub as well. And it so it talks about honey, and honey, whether it is obtained from wild bees, domesticated hives, um, or produced from date nectar. Those were the different kinds of honey um referenced in the Old Testament. But throughout the Old Testament, it functions both as a literal foodstuff and a rich symbol of covenant blessing, delight, and spiritual sweetness. So then I kept looking and digging in, and there are a lot of references to honey in the Old Testament, but I pulled out just a few uh so we can see how it's used in scripture. So, first and foremost, if you've watched Veggie Tales or you've read um the Pentateuch, you've read Exodus, you see or Genesis, you see over and over again the Lord promises to lead Israel out of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey. Uh, he says it again and again and again. Mana that the Lord provided for the people, uh, Scripture says was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey. Uh, Samson, you know, Samson, you know, for all of his foilables and sin and his rebellion, the Lord used his strengths to do some incredible things. He kills that lion, he goes on his merry way. A week later he comes back, and what's coming out of this lion is honey. Bees have taken residence there, and there is honey. And he goes in and he dips his hand. He goes back to the carcass of the enemy that he conquered and he takes honey from it in victory. I love it. Um, Proverbs tells us not to overindulge in honey lest it makes us sick. Both Ezekiel and John, so Old and New Testament here, Ezekiel the prophet, and John the apostle were told to eat the word and that it would taste like honey in their mouths. And John was told that it would be honey, it'd be sweet in his mouth, but it would be bitter in his stomach. And then the other thing that I thought was so cool was that it was a part of John the Baptist's diet. Uh, he was a prophet. We know that John was in the wilderness until he was launched onto the national stage before uh Jesus came and made himself public as well. And scripture tells us that John wore camel hair and he ate locusts and he ate honey. And that really stuck out to me because we see throughout scripture that the prophet's life can is is bitter. There is a lot of bitterness because the prophet was often called and still is today, still is today, called to speak, yes, edification, yes, um, all sorts of things, but but to speak the mind of the Lord in discernment to people, to sound the alarm. So many prophets in the Old Testament had to bring hard words. But what did they also bring? There was always hope in the word that they brought. There was always honey, that hope oracle. Here is what I'm gonna do to you if you don't repent. But if you repent, here's what I will do. Or even you're gonna go into captivity. You've passed the point where your repentance is going to be able to change what's going on. But even though you're going into captivity, when I bring you out, it's like the Lord saying this through Jeremiah, I will bring you back, I will bring you back to the land. There will be a remnant, there will be a shoot that comes up from the stump, all of those things, and that's honey. And that the Lord let John eat honey in the wilderness to sweeten the difficulty of the wilderness, I think is amazing. And then the other thing that is really cool is in Luke 24, 42, and it's a footnote, but I think it's really important to note that Jesus is on the shore and he's, you know, he's built that fire, like John tells us. And the disciples offer him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb. And uh the topical lexicon says this validates material resurrection and celebrating covenant sweetness fulfilled. And I love that so much. Again, proving Jesus was resurrected in body, he ate things, he had to digest it. Uh, but there was there was the sweetness he had just endured, the most horrific thing that has ever happened ever in the history of man, the horrificness of his crucifixion, the perfect God man on the cross, whipped and bloody and bruised for our transgressions, buried and on the third day, risen by the power of the Holy Spirit, sitting with his disciples, partaking in a meal, eating the fish and eating the honey. There is the sweetness that that what he has done is it is finished. And I and I love it, I love it so much. But in the midst of all of this, what hit me is, you know, for a lot of us, life doesn't feel this way, right? There's there it feels like there's so much bitterness or disappointment or unfulfilled dreams or grief and sorrow and depression that we all struggle with, if we're honest, we all struggle with it. And sometimes it's day-to-day, sometimes it's just a season. Um, but we're all dealing with something. And there are times when it is a great season. But I know for a lot of people, there are times that just are hard and they feel like prolonged seasons of difficulty. And it's part of the reason why I wanted to start this podcast because this isn't about being Pollyanna, it's not about ignoring the difficulty of the things that we experience and the hardness of grief or disappointment or betrayal or trauma. It's not just always trying to look on the bright side. Um, what I want to share on this podcast, and I know the people who all I will bring on it, it the things that we've learned have come out of the dark places in life. You know, I can tell you of so many times where I have laid on the floor with not-filled tears of grief, asking Jesus why he's letting me go through something so difficult and heartbreaking. And again, sometimes at my own hand, reaping the consequences of my own sin. Sometimes it's the affliction and the suffering that the Lord appoints. Sometimes I don't know why. But I've cried out to the Lord and I'm asking him for his leading. You know, there's there's been days where I have felt so numb and like just don't care about anything, or I've been so angry, or I've been so happy and full of joy and laughter, or full of grief and hurt and depression. It's the human experience, right? And in those really difficult times, what I have learned is that Jesus hasn't given me honey to assuage me like that um temper tantrum throwing child in the grocery store, right? Who's screaming for candy. As a literal real life example, my mom and I just and my brother, we were at the Omaha zoo here a week ago, and there was this just child losing his mind because he wanted candy. And kudos to the dad. He he didn't just try and shut him up. He was trying to explain to him why he couldn't have it. And I know that dad was so embarrassed because that kid was loud. And that's how we can be sometimes with the Lord, right? We are crying and we are loud, and and the Lord's not then just throwing us sweetness or honey to shut us up, right? No, he is giving us honey because he wants us to know him. And and his honey, the the the sweetness, those glimpses of comfort and kindness and and being held by him, ministry from his people in his word, those things have sustained me. They've given me new life when I felt like I couldn't keep going. Um, he's also given me honey that's tasted like dessert, right? You know, you get dessert and it's the oh, it's so good, and it's at the end of a really good meal. And other times it's tasted like hope, like good things are coming, and that's actually the season that I'm in right now is a lot of grief and a lot of difficulty and just processing a lot of hard things. But I have this intense sense of hope and that the Lord has good things coming for me. The Lord has good things coming for the people I love and the people I care about. And so the other thing that I've learned um in life is that you know, we can't appreciate honey uh if we eat it all the time. But in our society, we consume so much fake sweetness, right? So much, I mean, you there's the pink packet, the blue packet, the yellow packet, there's raw sugar, there's stevia, there's you know, monk fruit, there's all sorts of sweetness that we can add. And what I think we've all learned from time to time, if we consume too much fakeness, too much fake sweetness, when we go to eat the real thing, then all of a sudden it's not sweet enough because all we've done is consume empty counterfeits, right? And so we we then we eat the real thing and we're like, well, this doesn't taste really good. It doesn't satisfy us the way that it should. We reject it because we've filled ourselves with so much empty junk, right? And then there's the there's the opposite, and I'm using, you know, diet examples because, you know, honey is actually real. Um, and and there's there's the diet of like, you know, all meat, no fun, all plants, no joy, right? You know, where you're just so restricted on what you can, and hey, it works for some people, I'm not knocking anything. But follow me here because when we then cut everything out that's sweet in that way, all of a sudden, if we taste something sweet, it can feel like it's too much. It overwhelms our palate. And sometimes in life I have found when I've been in the depth of grief and the Lord does something good for me, he does something kind for me, it almost feels like it's too much. And honestly, sometimes when I've been working through something, whether it's anger or forgiveness or bitterness or whatever it is, and I know, I know the Lord is telling me to let it go. And I'm fighting and I want to, and yet there's, you know, there is, there's still that petty place in all of us that sometimes we like to hold on to things. And so the good thing that the Lord is giving us is too overwhelming because we're unwilling to let go of things that we are holding so close that we prefer. We sometimes we prefer the bitterness, sometimes we prefer the anger. And the Lord wants us to exchange those things um in obedience and also because what he gives us is so much better. The other thing, too, is you know, the Lord is not giving us honey to keep us on a leash, right? It's not, it's not the cheese and the trap. You know, honey so beautifully, the the sweetness of the Lord, his kindness, his goodness, his love, his grace, his mercy, these things so beautifully gild in the best way of that word the bitterness of life, the difficulty of disappointment. And it also heightens the beauty of joy, the the successes and and the the happiness of things that he gives us. And it eases the horror of grief. And again, these things are only found in him. They are only found in him because Jesus himself is the honey in the rock, he's the rock and he is the honey in it. And I think it's so tempting to fall back into places where we just want a quick fix, we want or we want things to go away quickly because it's so hard and it hurts and it's difficult, and and so many times Jesus doesn't do that. He keeps us where he has us, and yet, as Isaiah said, you know, he makes the wilderness like Eden. Why does the wilderness become like Eden? Why does the honey taste so sweet? Eden was what it was. Yes, it was paradise, and it was created with all sorts of beautiful things, but every single thing created in that garden, including and especially Adam and Eve, were the reflection of the character of God. Eden is only Eden because the Lord is there. We can't have Eden, we can't have goodness, we can't have honey if it's not from the Lord. And he's not a happy pill, he's not a magician with a wand to just swipe it over things and make them better, but he is our sustenance, he is the joy of our salvation, he is the light in our darkness and the hope in our grief and the comfort in our depression. He is all of those things and how how those things come to fruition look different for all of us. But the truth of who he is doesn't change. And and one thing I've really learned over the last few years is is for so many years I had in studying this and in and in trying to really um you know learn from the Lord and just you know, and and honestly, sometimes just being like, why are you doing this to me? Um, you know, when I go to the word looking for what the Lord is saying to me or about me, right? That's I I've you read we have a tendency to fall into a place where we read the Bible as if it's about us. And guess what? It is not. And, you know, we we and the Lord wants us to come to his word. Whatever disposition we come to in his word, if we are actually looking for him and seeking him and believing him, that he will be found if we diligently seek him, uh, he will change us and he will shape us. Sometimes he will pierce us with that sharp two-edged sword, no doubt. And other times it will be, you know, the wine and the oil that the good Samaritan used to clean the wounds of the person who um he finds on the side of the road, the neighbor that he finds on the side of the road. Um, but one thing the Lord is really teaching me and reminding me of is to stop going to the word and expecting him to speak to me about me first. This and this is really the crux of what I want this podcast to be. I want us to, I want me to change how I read the word and go into it first with Lord, what are you trying to teach me about you? The whole word is about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. And so when I'm going to, no matter what I'm going through in life, I need to go to the word and ask the Holy Spirit and seek the Father to say, Lord, this is where I am, and you know where I am. You know how hard this is. And I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm gonna I'm probably gonna scream and cry. I mean, I want to be reverent, but the Lord can handle my tears. If he can handle all of Job's raging, which praise the Lord for the book of Job, can we can we take a minute and say hallelujah and amen for the book of Job? But if we can be in, you know, and and cry and question and and you know, and and and go to the Lord with every disappointment and every frustration, but in it be be willing to wait and see how he responds to us, number one, but what he is showing us about himself, that's the whole point. That's the whole point. And and I don't know about you, I I know a lot of friends and family we've talked about this. You know, we can fall into a disposition where hard things happen, and there is that temptation to go, why are you doing this to me? You know, what have I done? And and Job says that to the Lord, you know, he questions it. Job didn't have the privilege that we have in reading that book to see the devil going to the Lord and being like, You take everything from that man and he is gonna reject you and he's gonna curse you. Job just sat there with his horrible boils and friends who looked like friends but were actually enemies. And then a young friend who came and boldly spoke the word of the Lord. And when the Lord finally showed up, yeah, you know, he goes after Job. He does. He, you know, dress dressed like a man. I want you to tell me what you've done, right? And yet the Lord never rejects Job. The Lord doesn't say to Job, like what he said to his friends, you know, those three, he says, You better go ask Job to make a sacrifice for you, because I am done with you. And and this whole reflection is actually something that I heard from Tim Keller. Um, why was Job accepted and not rejected at the end? And his three friends were like, You are on my list from the Lord. And it's because everything that Job said and did, even though he was in so much pain and just so raw and honest with the Lord, he said it in prayer. He always went to the Lord. And so I say all of that to say it's not that we can't go to the Lord and not be frustrated or experiencing things and not understand, but we need to keep our heart posture, our life posture, one of reverence in that Lord, I'm gonna dump these things on you because you tell me I can cast every care on you. And I also need to be willing to see, Lord Jesus, when I'm reading this word, what are you showing me about your character? Because what I can see is making me question and doubt, it's making me cry. I'm struggling. I hate this, I hate it and I want it to go away because it's crushing my soul. And yet when I come to your word, show me, Lord, show me who you are again and again so that I am not looking at what I see, but I'm looking at you. Even though I can't see you, I know you and I love you, as John says in 1 John. So that's really the heart of this podcast is going in together and getting honey in the rock, being in Jesus and seeing where, where his goodness comes in the midst of struggle and difficulty. Because when we put ourselves in that posture, we're honest before the Lord, we give him everything. He sees all of it anyway. I mean, when we're sharing those things and our frustration and our anger and our grief and our depression, our joy, our happiness, our indult, all of it. He already knows. He already knows. Many times I find those experiences of crying out to the Lord that way are because I actually don't really know how I feel, and the Lord wants to show me where he's dealing with me. Um, so yeah, that's that was a really long kind of explanation, but that's where this all started and and I've kind of landed where where I want to go moving forward and talk about things. You know, find honey in the rock, find honey in the scripture scripture because honey in the rock is the reflection and it is the character, it is the person of Jesus Christ. And so I want to encourage you with that, no matter what you are going through. Jesus Christ wants to reveal himself to you. He wants to give you honey from his rock, from the rock that he is. He wants to show himself to you where you are, and he wants you to come to know him. He wants you to uh absolutely be ready. Wrapped in his arms. He wants to free you from the things that bind you. He wants to deliver you from Egypt. He wants to bring you out of captivity into his land flowing with milk and honey. And he wants you to walk in newness of life. Old things passed away, rising and walking in newness of life, walking in his joy, walking in his goodness, learning the good discipline that he gives us as a father, being thankful for the gift of repentance, learning again and again and again what it means to be washed in the perfection of his blood, that he really did finish the work of cleansing us from our sin. And when we come to him in repentance, his blood is powerful and effectual to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then on top of it, what a blessing it is to be in Christian community. What a blessing it is to be in the church. And so that's really what this podcast is about. I hope you will join me every week for an exploration of scripture to know Jesus better and to find honey in the rock. I love it. And now I want to bless you. And this is from Jude 1, and this is one of my favorite verses in scripture. And I pray that as we go away today, that the Lord will keep this in the forefront because this is who he is. Jude 124. Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy, to the only God and our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, and now and forever. Amen.