Honey From the Rock

I looked up from my sink of dishes to see a plump baby bird and his mom perched on the railing of my deck. The squat baby tipped his head back, opened his yellow-orange beak, and received what the mom graciously offered. The mom’s intense blue-black head flickered to the tree and then to the sky, cautious and attentive, before bolting away in search of more food. Meanwhile, the baby bird hunkered down on the railing, no squawk or complaint issuing from his mouth as his mom left him.

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly moved.
(Psalm 62:1 RSVCE)

This little bird, trusting in the faithful return of his mother, made me see again how I should be with God. Every time the mother took flight, the baby waited quietly, resting in the firm and certain knowledge that she would return. The most squawking happened when the mother had landed on the railing and the baby chirruped incessantly, eagerly clamoring for the food which was soon to be given. Otherwise, he was silent. He hardly moved. He never made an attempt to go get food on his own or to make any sort of search for his mother. He just waited in confidence.

Or perhaps he simply followed his bird instincts that said his mom would return with food. Yet how much more should I wait hopefully on the Lord, trusting that as He has promised, so He will deliver. The Lord will not abandon me or forget me. He can be completely trusted and relied upon. Though He might seem absent or far away, He is always laboring to provide the very best possible in each moment.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
(Psalm 81: 10 RSVCE)

No conversation, no questions, no complaints. Just a neck craning back and a beak opened wide to receive whatever the mom was going to give him. And the mom provided each time. Sometimes she took part of the food back out, held for a bit in her mouth, and then deposited it again in his waiting mouth. Whatever she gave was received as good. I didn’t see the baby spit it back out or question if he would like what would be offered. Simple receptivity.

In these actions, repeated several times as the dirty dishes passed through my hands and became clean, I found a challenge offered to me from the Lord. Would I be like that little bird and receive all that He would offer me? Would I not question if it was really good or if I would like it or if there was anything else, but would I instead just receive from the Lord all He gifted? Could I trust the God of all creation, Who has led me up out of my own Egypts many times, as simply as the little bird trusted his mother? Will I take the offered cup and drink fully?

But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would have none of me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes….I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.
(Psalm 81: 11-14, 16)

Recently, I’ve been pondering the truth that God is always giving us our greatest good in every moment. It isn’t something new I learned, but it isn’t something I have often found myself considering. While I often don’t receive fully what the Lord is offering, it has been renewing my perspective of life events and situations when I try to view it from this perspective of unfathomable goodness.

The priest who spurred this pondering shared a story which I have also been ruminating over. He mentioned praying for rain as a child and how this nearly destroyed his belief in the goodness of God since the rain often didn’t come or was delayed. As a child, his perspective was that if God heard enough people, He would give what they were asking for or be convinced to give them what they wanted. Yet he offered a more Christian perspective of what prayer should be with the Lord. When begging and pleading for rain and it doesn’t come, the faithful follower of Jesus should be able to prayerfully wonder, Lord, what greater good are you doing here in this place of our need?

In every moment, the Lord is laboring in love for us and is giving the greatest good. So when I bring my needs and desires to the Lord and it doesn’t seem like He is giving what I am asking for, I can trust that He is giving me what I most deeply need. When I pray for rain and He doesn’t give rain, He is still offering to me what I greatly need and what would be my greatest good. We might not like the gift offered by the Lord, it might seem bitter or too little or too much or not what we wanted.

We want rain and the Lord wants to heal our hearts of a wound we have carried for so long it seems normal.

We want the conversion of our loved ones and the Lord wants to heal our doubts about His providence and faithfulness.

We want a physical healing for a dear friend and the Lord wants to bolster our wavering belief in the meaningfulness of every act of love, every moment of suffering, every experience of the ordinary.

It isn’t necessarily that the Lord doesn’t want us to have rain or for our loved ones to be converted or for the friend to be physically healed. But He is still offering us something (something real, true, good, and beautiful) in the very moments when it feels like our prayers go unheard and our pleas unnoticed. When I long for rain, the Lord gives me the absolute best thing He can give in that moment.

Boldly, shockingly, surprisingly, the Church proclaims that God is always giving us the greatest good, that there is no greater good He withholds from us. There is no greater good God could offer me in this moment than what He is currently offering.

It is a mystery we cannot fully comprehend, but it is one I will likely ponder the rest of my life. From this place of need and longings, we find that the Lord is giving “honey from the rock” and providing for our greatest good in each moment. Even in the moments when we think He is far away or ignores our pleas or has forgotten about us, we can remain rooted in the truth that He is always present, always laboring in love, always fulfilling His promises.

We simply need to wait quietly on the Lord and receive whatever He offers with an unwavering certainty in His desire and ability to give us what is truly and abundantly good.

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Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash