Honey in the Rock

Are you a francophile? Do you enjoy learning everything you can about France and its people? 

I have to admit, I wasn’t when we chose to embark on this adventure of living and working in southern France.

Instead, I was that person in high school who flippantly chose to take French out of her two choices of languages!  Now 20 years later, I look back and think … if only my high school French teachers could see me now! 

Richness in the Exploration

Living in another culture for a period of time, longer than 3 months, provides a richness that is incomparable. And for me to travel around Europe to view the history that was born here is just spectacular. 

• To read about the Renaissance that flourished in Italy;
• to see the cathedrals in their magnificence and beauty towering above the villages;
• to study the inter workings that went on behind the scenes in these seats of power;

All these and more bring a depth of understanding to how people thought and how people lived.

You can see what their priorities in life were by the items that they valued and emulated.  

But just as you can observe what cultures lift up as something to be honored,
so too, you can see what they choose to leave out. 

Choices that brought a Dryness

For France, the choice made generations ago to leave God out of their priorities has left a distinct result that can be seen and felt in the 21st century. Today, the spiritual climate could be seen as dry and brittle, just like the grass found in southern France in the summer heat. 

The stony spiritual earth is prevalent and dry. 

Spiritual Sweetness Remains

Yet, in the midst of the spiritual brittleness, if you look there are glimmers of God’s moving even among the stones. Throughout history in spite of the circumstances, we can see people making choices in their own lives that placed God at the forefront of their sights. They were choosing to firmly place God first … no matter the cost.

And from their examples, we can begin to see a spiritual sweetness emerging that refreshes the soul in times of dryness.

• In our area, amidst the harrowing times of the Edict of Fontainebleau given by King Louis XIV in 1685, the Protestant Huguenots chose to defy the king. They chose to meet in fields and forests to worship God freely and hide from the King’s dragoons.
• The people caught were:
  • executed on the gallows on the Esplanade in Montpellier (city center);
  • placed in ship galleys condemned to a life of rowing the ships,
  • or for the women, sent to the Tour de Constance where they remained for the rest of their lives.
• https://www.museedudesert.com/rubrique5.html
• https://ot-aiguesmortes.com/la-tour-de-constance

• In the 21st century, you see people coming from war-torn countries to Montpellier for a variety of reasons. Yet, even here where so much brittleness invades the spiritual ground, God brings honey out of the rock, providing spiritual nourishment to those seeking. 

Honey in the Rock

I know story after story of people coming to Montpellier, spiritually brittle and dry. Yet, our God is a Pursuant God and He meets them in their need. He says through the song in Psalm 81:16, “… and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” 

How do we experience this spiritual renewal in our lives:

• When the world around us chooses not to lift up the Creator of Heaven and Earth?
• When God is not a part of the conversation for our generation?
• When we feel spiritually dry and brittle from the inside out?

Refreshment in a Dry Land

How would you answer the above questions? For me, after observing European history unfold and seeing how steadfast people of God survived the spiritual dryness they experienced in their times, this would be my personal reply:

We choose to do what the people before us did when they sought God’s refreshment. 

• We set our hearts and minds firmly ahead of us.
• We look to the Author and Finisher of our faith. 
• We continue to seek after God and have unending conversations with Him through prayer.
• We keep our eyes opened to His movement around us.
• And we continue to praise Him and praise Him … for only He can place Honey in the Rock! 

Snail Life in the hot southern summers.
Snails move to the top of plants to catch any possible breezes that might blow. They adhere themselves to an unwavering foundation that will get them through the dryness of the summer.

Let’s firmly fasten ourselves to the One Who is to be honored & lifted up in this generation & all generations yet to come!

P.S. Our church sang this song this past Sunday and it has stayed in my mind and inspired this post. I linked the YouTube site for you to have a listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDGDrLU1XcM