Sweet as Honey

To my son, 

                Right now in the Come, Follow Me program we are studying the book of Revelation. One of my favorite scenes from this book is the one recorded in chapter 10. An angel came down from heaven and had “a little book” in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the earth and cried like a lion some words that John did not record for us. After he spoke, then “seven thunders uttered their voices.” I don’t know what that means exactly, but apparently there were voices like thunder that spoke real words that John heard. John was forbidden to write them, but he was given the “little book” for himself. He recorded, “And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter” (Revelation 10:2-10). He ate the book! Of course, this is symbolic, and I love the imagery and message this gives to us: we should take the words of the Lord inside of us; they should be as internal to our souls as food is to our body when we eat it. Nephi used a similar metaphor when he told us, “Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:3). I know that you love to feast on great food, and so this imagery should hit home: we should approach the scriptures and words of the Lord with the same earnest anticipation and desire that we do a grand feast of the best foods. As we “eat” the words of the Lord by diligently studying and reading them each day, they will be “sweet as honey” to us.

                But wait, you might say, if you read the above verse carefully. Why did these words that he ate make his belly bitter? I don’t know for sure, but I believe that John felt sorrow and pain from the words that taught of the destruction coming upon the wicked in the last days. The visions he had were perhaps difficult for him to bear because he learned of the terrible things that would come in the last days because of wickedness. After he ate the book he recorded, “And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings” (Revelation 10:11). In other words, what he learned from this book he had to share and teach, a job that may have been daunting to him knowing the unpleasant nature of the message for the wicked. But for us who seek to follow the Lord and keep his commandments, the message is not bitter—the words of the Lord can be to us as Jacob said, “O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever” (Jacob 3:2). As we feast upon the words of the Lord through diligently searching in the scriptures, we will also be feasting upon the love that the Savior has for us. I invite you as you partake of lots of delicious holiday meals this season to remember to also feast upon the words and the love of the Savior as you read each day from the scriptures. Don’t just nibble around the edges—eat the whole book and you will find the spiritual sweetness of honey that comes with any diligent effort to sincerely study the word of God.

Love,

Dad