Most of you don’t know, but I have a major sweet tooth. My love for sweets came from my parents. When I was in junior high my parents opened up a bakery. My brothers and I would go to the bakery before school, after school, and on Saturdays. We ate sweet treats, waited on customers , ate more sweet treats, washed dishes, and ate another sweet treat.

My parents made many different kinds of sweets; donuts, bear claws, cookies, cream puffs, danishes, cakes, pies. You name it, they made it or were at least willing to try it. They were all delicious and all very hard to stay away from.

There is, however, one sweet that I can consume everyday and not have a sense of guilt if I eat too much.

It’s found in Psalm 119:103

How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

In this section of Psalm 119, starting with verse 97-104, the psalmist gives us three key ingredients that makes God’s word sweet.

O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.

Psalm 119:97-98

I don’t know about you, but I crave sweets. When I am considering on what I’m going to eat at a restaurant, I look at the dessert menu first to see if I need to save room for some delectable dessert. Most of my recipe collection is desserts. When I’m sad, I usually turn to sweets. When I’m happy, it’s sweets. When I’m lonely, again sweets. When I’m upset, definitely sweets. The psalmist here in verse 97 says that God’s word should be my meditation all the day. It should be what I think about all day. We have several verses throughout scripture, not only here, that remind us and encourages us to meditate on God’s word.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Joshua 1:8

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:2

But He answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

Matthew 4:4

Matthew 4 is the account of Jesus’ temptation. Our Lord quotes scripture in His defense. Matthew 4:4 is from Deuteronomy 8:3. This is talking about the manna from God and how no one knew what it was and how God used it to make them rely on Him. If we meditate, that is to think deeply or carefully, on God’s word we will gain this godly wisdom that we can use to help us with whatever we are facing.

Bread cannot do that.

God’s word gives us comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3,4

God’s word gives us joy. 1 Peter 1:3-9

God’s word gives us peace. Romans 8:5,6

God’s word gives us contentment. Philippians 4:10-13

God’s sweet word gives us all the things that we cannot find in a sweet treat.

God’s sweet word should be our meditation.

I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

Psalm 119:99-100

When my parents first opened their bakery, I did not know a lot about baking. I didn’t know how to make a pie crust. I didn’t know you could kill yeast. I didn’t know that some things required lots of patience, practice and precision. I didn’t know that one missed ingredient could ruin a whole recipe.

Have you ever made a pumpkin pie and forgot the sugar or even a sugar substitute? I would definitely not recommend it.

I am by no means an expert in baking, but over the years I have developed a better understanding that I can now help my own children with baking questions.

God’s word gives us this understanding. His word gives us everything that pertains to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Everything that we don’t understand or what we want to know more about in this life can be found in scripture.

Dating/purity – 2 Timothy 2:22; 1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Corinthians 15:33

Marriage – Genesis 2:24; Proverbs 18:22; Ephesians 5

Parenting – Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:1-4; Colossians 3:21

Work relationships– Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:22-4:1

How to treat others and how not to treat others – Ephesians 4:29-32; Luke 6:31; 1 John 4:20-21

How to live a life of faith– Proverbs 3:5-6

How to live our lives for God – Galatians 2:20

How to obtain eternal life with God – John 3:16; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:17; John 8:24; Luke 13:3; Acts 8:37; Acts 2:38; Revelation 2:10

It’s all right here in this book. It’s our responsibility to open it up, study it, ask questions, and gain an understanding of God’s word so that we can teach others.

Will we ever know everything in His word?

Probably not, but that doesn’t need to stop us from trying and learning all we can. Just as learning a new recipe takes practice, patience, and precision so does our understanding of God’s word.

Meditating, focusing on God’s sweet word throughout our days will give us an understanding that leads us to the next key ingredient that we find in this section of scripture as to why God’s word is sweet.

I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.

Psalm 119:101-102

Keeping God’s word in the forefront of our minds and trying to learn and understand it will keep us on the right path. We read in Matthew 7:13-14

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

In this life we can choose many different ways to do life. But it is always best to choose God’s path. Even though it may not always be easy, (Matthew does say here that it can be difficult), but it’s the path that leads us through God’s sweet word and guides us to the sweetest reward we can ever obtain.

I found this quote about God’s sweet word that I’d like to share with you (I don’t know the true source, but I found it on Pinterest)

God wrote a book.

That reality blows me away every time I stop to think about it. Pages and pages of God. His thoughts, His words, His heart. Right there, just a few inches away. And with His book, these words in front of us, He wakens our dead, bored souls. He frees us from bondage to sin, from desires that rob us of life. He comforts the depressed, inspires the discouraged, guides the confused. He empowers us to make our lives count for His cause in the world. He satisfies completely and forever with words – His words.

Oh how sweet it is to be loved so much by our God that He gave us His sweet scriptures!

By: Kristina Odom