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97 Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long. 98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me. 99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your decrees are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. 101 I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. 102 I do not turn away from your ordinances, for you have taught me. 103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. (Psalm 119:87-104 NIV)
A Tremendous Thursday be with you today, Dear Friend. Make God's dreams for you come true by being obedient and bold! A great big, beautiful tomorrow starts today!
Hebrew children as they learn their sacred texts, are given tastes of honey and other sweets to teach them that every word of God's word is sweet. This was based on this passage as well as one found in Ezekiel 3:3, and Proverbs 24:13. This tradition was often accompanied by additional sweets, honey cakes and eggs with verses inscribed on them, and sometimes coins and candies brought by "angels," all reinforcing the joyful and sweet nature of Torah learning. The purpose is to give children a powerful, sensory association—the sweetness of the Torah—to encourage a life-long love of Jewish learning. This reminded me of a story I read about early Russian missionaries who told of their experiences with a chubby boy who because of his love of sweets, would memorize more Bible verses than his classmates to win the candies the missionaries offered for each winner of the contest. What was more interesting was that child was Nikita Khrushchev, who led the Soviet Union as First Secretary of the Communist Party from 1953 to 1964 and was known for his role in the Cold War, including the Cuban Missile Crisis and de-Stalinization efforts. Did the Bible verses not go beyond his tummy?
I used to carry a Bible with me to school starting in junior high. I can't believe that when God called me in eleventh grade that I was surprised God would call me? With as many books as I had in my locker and needed to take to each class. I would read parts of it when time allowed and I truly found, and still do, that God's word is sweet and life-giving. Like the psalmist I believe that God's word is not a rulebook to endure but a treasure to savor.
Meditating on Scripture reshapes the mind. The psalmist says it makes him wiser than his enemies, more insightful than his teachers, and more understanding than the elders. Wisdom is not just age or education—it’s revelation. God’s truth, when planted deeply in the heart, gives discernment that the world’s cleverness cannot match.
There’s a purity in this kind of devotion. The psalmist turns away from “every wrong path” not out of fear, but out of love. God’s Word is described as “sweeter than honey.” When the sweetness of His truth fills our souls, sin loses its flavor.
The challenge for us is simple but profound: Do we delight in God’s Word, or do we merely read it? When Scripture becomes our daily meditation, it stops being ink on a page and becomes the voice that steadies our hearts and guides our steps.
PRAYER: Lord, teach us to love Your Word as the psalmist did. Let it not be a duty but a delight, not just words we read but life that renews us. Give us wisdom that comes from knowing You, and keep our heart from every wrong path. Make Your Word sweeter than anything else we desire. In Jesus’ strong name, Amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Set aside time each day this week to meditate on one short passage—and let its sweetness guide your thoughts, words, and choices.
I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God and you matter to me. Make life matter to others.
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
