Truth: Bitter or Sweet? / 真理：是苦或甜？

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Dexu Xia

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Nov 1, 2019, 2:43:02 AM11/1/19

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Truth: Bitter or Sweet?

So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. Ezekiel 3:3

I’d had the spot on my nose for the better part of a year when I went to the doctor. The biopsy results came back days later with words I didn’t want to hear: skin cancer. Though the cancer was operable and not life-threatening, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

God commanded Ezekiel to swallow a bitter pill—a scroll containing words of lament and woe (Ezekiel 2:10; 3:1–2). He was “to fill [his] stomach with it” and share the words with the people of Israel, whom God considered “obstinate and stubborn” (2:4). One would expect a scroll filled with correction to taste like a bitter pill. Yet Ezekiel describes it being “as sweet as honey” in his mouth (3:3).

Ezekiel seems to have acquired a taste for God’s correction. Instead of viewing His rebuke as something to avoid, Ezekiel recognized that what is good for the soul is “sweet.” God instructs and corrects us with lovingkindness, helping us live in a way that honors and pleases Him.

Some truths are bitter pills to swallow while others taste sweet. If we remember how much God loves us, His truth will taste more like honey. His words are given to us for our good, providing wisdom and strength to forgive others, refrain from gossip, and bear up under mistreatment. Help us, God, to recognize Your wisdom as the sweet counsel it truly is!

What truth has God shown you recently? Did you receive it as a bitter pill or sweet honey?

God, Your truth is sweet.

真理：是苦或甜？

我就吃了，口中觉得其甜如蜜。-以西结书3章3节

我的鼻子上长了一块斑，但我过了大半年才去看医生。切片检查的结果几天后就出来了，是我不想听到的：皮肤癌。虽然我的这个肿瘤可以动手术切除，也不会危及生命，但我还是觉得这个事实有如苦药，让人难以接受。

上帝也曾吩咐先知以西结吃下似乎像苦药的书卷，其上写着哀号和悲痛的话（以西结书2章10节，3章1-2节）。这本书卷“充满[以西结]的肚腹”（3章3节），以西结便向上帝看为“面无羞耻，心里刚硬”（2章4节）的以色列百姓讲述其中的话。这本充满纠错、警戒人的书卷，吃起来本应像苦药一样，但以西结吃了之后，却说他“口中觉得其甜如蜜”（3章3节）。

看来以西结学会了领受上帝的训诲。他并不逃避上帝的责备，他明白这些对生命有益的教导都是“甜”的。上帝以慈爱教导和纠正我们，要让我们活出荣耀祂、讨祂喜悦的生命。

有些真理和事实会有如苦药，但有些却是甘甜无比。如果我们记得上帝深爱我们，祂的话语尝起来就比蜂蜜更甜。上帝赐下祂的话语，是要使我们得益处，让我们得着智慧和能力去原谅别人，约束自己不说人是非，且能忍耐不公平的待遇。愿上帝让我们明白，祂的智慧是如蜜甘甜的忠告！

在最近几周内，上帝向你显明了哪些真理或事实？
对你而言，这些是苦药还是蜂蜜呢？