Locusts and Honey

I used to have trouble hearing from the Holy Spirit; and from talking with other Christians, this is a common concern. Although the Holy Spirit doesn't answer all my questions and I don't understand many of my steps of obedience, I am now able to discern His voice more clearly.

I'm impressed by many figures in the Bible who receive revelation from God. They didn't question whether or not they heard from Him; they stood firmly on His direction in their life. Job, Abraham, Gideon, Joseph, Moses, David and Paul all heard clearly from God and tried to follow His leading.

I know that sin can clog our ears from hearing the Holy Spirit, but I think there is another phenomena plaguing Christians today, preventing them from hearing God's voice. We are bombarded with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We have so much information streaming into our minds that we can't hear above the noise.

I believe that we could consume more information in one day than people from history's past could consume in one year.

While David spent his days watching sheep and cultivating his relationship with God as a youth, our children spend their days devouring video games, magazines, Internet sites, television shows, books, movies, music, texts and the influences of dozens of people in a single day. I don't believe any one of these things is wrong, but too much exposure to information is causing our brains to become overweight and our spirits to starve.

I started hearing from God when I turned off the TV, threw away the magazines, walked away from the computer, monitored my music, became picky about movies, guarded my choice of books and protected myself from the influences of others. I stopped the flow of the information dump into my life, and finally the voice of God sounded from the mountaintops!

I thought, "There You are, God!"

God told me, "I was always here!"

Now before I decide to consume information, I tell myself this statement: "Eat the locusts and God will give you honey."

Entomophagy means to eat insects as food, which includes both locusts and honey. John the Baptist ate locusts and honey when he lived in the wilderness and preached God's Word. Locusts are continually found in the Bible, usually seen as pests devouring crops (Exodus 10.14). Obviously, there were a lot of locusts, and John didn't need money to buy them. Even though John was the only son of a Levite mother and father and had the ability to consume the choicest meats given as sacrifice, he settled for the bug.

However, John also ate honey. Honey is also found in the Bible and is used in reference to the abundance of the Promise Land (Deuteronomy 26:15), to cheer people up (1 Samuel 14:29), in celebration (Song of Solomon 5.1) and to describe God's Word (Ezekiel 3.2 & Psalm 19.10). I find it interesting that John topped off his day of bug munching with an amazing batch of wild honey!

I thought, "If honey represents God's Word, I want some more!"

God said, "Then start eating locusts, and you'll have more room for my honey!"

What I've discovered is that whenever I choose to avoid the delicacies of the world, God blesses me with His honey. Every time I sacrifice my cravings for what the world serves up, God is able to feed me with His glory. I'm learning to cater my appetite to spiritual things because I know that my life on this earth is short, and I don't want to be on my deathbed with stomach full of the world. I want more of God in my life.

I choose to eat locusts, so God can bless me with more honey.

"Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things" (Philippians 3.19 NIV).



Here's a fun article written in 1875 published in The New York Times about John the Baptist: "Locust-Eating."