Death by Chocolate

I love theologians. I love books, I love listening to sermons. I can read Charles Spurgeon, C.S. Lewis, St. Augustine, J.I. Packer, John Piper, or Carolyn Custis James 'til the cows come home. Matt Chandler and Mark Driscoll could win my ear for hours each day listening to their wisdom and passion for the gospel. But, eloquent as all these men and women are, none hold a candle to my main man David.

I truly believe that the psalms contain some of the most beautiful words in the English language; housed in a book devoted to songs and prayers in praise and exultation of the Lord.

But, perhaps my favorite verse I've found recently is Psalm 119:103, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth."

It's a simple verse, but it blew my mind. Now, I don't like honey, so it took me some thinking to get past that part. But as I thought about it, I began to look into the context of David's words. Honey was probably the sweetest of all temporal things back then. Dessert and sugar in general were not as common as they are in American society. Honey was a sweet, sweet, delicacy.

Which got me thinking, the sweetest and richest of all foods to me is chocolate, and I am fairly certain that if chocolate existed back then the verse would say, "... sweeter than chocolate to my mouth."

Mind blown. Nothing is sweeter than chocolate to me, and yet David recognizes that God's word is!! Honey is David's chocolate. The greatest, sweetest, most amazing thing David can taste in his mouth is not so delicious God's word to his ear.

I got so excited by this revelation that I ran to tell a friend excitedly proclaiming to her that I hunger for God's word, I salivate for it, and it feeds my soul in a way nothing else can. Over and over I gleefully told her, "God's word is sweeter than chocolate!!" Seriously, this should be particularly striking if you're a woman, as we seem to have a special place in our hearts reserved for this dark, delicious treat.

My joy continued and I started reading commentaries on this particular verse, to which I believe Charles Spurgeon had the best response,

"How wise it will be on our part to keep the word on our palate by meditation and on our tongue by confession. It must be sweet to our taste when we think of it, or it will not be Sweet to our mouth when we talk of it."

He took a verse I loved and derived a totally different meaning from it, but I love his interpretation, too.


Lord, thank You for Your Word. For giving us something so rich and so sweet that it leaves us thirsting for only You and Your life-giving water. Thank You for using Your son David to remind me that even the most amazing earthly goods pale in comparison to You. How sweet it is to be loved by You.