Inspiration for The Honey In The Rock

Why God Gave Me The Honey in the Rock
Authored by:  Shirley McClerklin-Motley, Ph.D.

Psalm 81:13-16
Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him, but their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the rock, should I have satisfied thee.

Deuteronomy 32:13
He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to such honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.

I was suffering from acute post-partum depression and felt like my life was so rotten that there was no reason to continue living. I took my baby in my arms and stood in front of the window in my New York apartment. As I looked below, I thought that it would be so easy to just jump with my baby in my arms. As I got closer to the ledge of the window, a voice stilled me. It was deep down in my soul that God spoke to me. He let me know that he had a work for me and my baby to do for him. I really don’t remember the exact words, but I do know that they were so powerful that I backed away from the window clutching my baby to my chest. I began to cry and tell God that I was sorry.  Of course, things didn’t get better right away. It was 12 years later that God saved my soul in June, 1982. Six months later, he saved my daughter in December.

When God put his Holy Spirit in me, he gave me an extraordinary hunger for his Word. I would read the Bible vociferously, praying and asking God to show me what the words meant and to help me remember them. I always wanted to write something or to teach God’s word to others. It seemed as if the opportunities to teach were so sporadic that I didn’t know if it was God’s will for me to go before others to teach his word on a large scale. One night I had a dream, and in the dream I was before a great number of people teaching. When I woke up, the words “Honey in the Rock” came so forcefully to my spirit. I began reading everything in the Bible about honey. Still not knowing exactly why God put this phrase in my spirit, I continued to search. 

I found that David quite often referred to the sweetness of honey. Psalm 19:9-10 states that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether…sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Psalm 119:103 says How sweet are thy words to my taste, yea sweeter than honey to my mouth. There are two accounts in the Bible of men being ordered to eat a book and in each case the taste of the book was like honey – Ezekiel 3:3 and Revelation 10:8-10. These scriptures helped me better understand why I was given the words “The Honey in the Rock.”

You see, no matter how hard life gets, God has blessings for us. He is with us when life is as hard as flint! He wants us to listen to and hear his Word. When we turn from listening to His Word, we truly make God sad because he loves us so much that he wants us to spend eternity with him. For years, I could not imagine what heaven is like. What could I do in heaven? I pondered these thoughts as well as the words honey in the rock. God does not reveal things to us all at once. In order for God to use us, there is quite a bit of maturing that has to take place. Also, we are so caught up in the cares of life that it can be hard to hear what God is saying to us. 

On any given day we see violence in the news. People are hating, rioting, killing, and destroying, without regard for ethnicity, health, or age. There are wars breaking out all over the earth, earthquakes in divers places, famine, and other atrocities, including COVID-19 worldwide. God has been shut out of our homes, schools, government, courts, and country. The world has become a rocky place, yet there is honey in it. Listen to God’s promises in Psalm 81 and Deuteronomy 32. God has to reveal to people the phenomenon of honey or water coming from rock.God has given me an assignment to teach his word, and to begin with the Book of Revelation. I am sure that these teachings will not be received by all. Some people will make this a very rocky journey for me. However, God is not confined to just doing things that people will not like, and for which they have no explanation. God wants the honey to be in your life, no matter how granite it might be. God wants you to eat the sweetness of his word that is like honey in your mouth. God wants you to begin to live in the richness of his promises. God wants you to have a deeper understanding of his word without fear. Once we stop being afraid of the Word of God, we will find that when we eat it, there is honey there. I pray that there are blessings and miracles of God in the lives of all who read this blog and that you never forget, there is honey in the rock!!!