Thursday,
March 23, 2023
Then I saw another
mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow
over his head. His face shone like the
sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire. And in his
hand was a small scroll that had been opened. He stood with his right foot on the sea and
his left foot on the land. And he gave a great shout like
the roar of a lion. And when he shouted,
the seven thunders answered. When
the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Keep
secret what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down.” Then the angel I saw standing on the sea
and on the land raised his right hand toward heaven. He
swore an oath in the name of the one who lives forever and ever, who created the
heavens and everything in them, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and
everything in it. He said, “There will
be no more delay. When the seventh angel blows his
trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his
servants the prophets.” Then
the voice from heaven spoke to me again: “Go and take the open scroll from the
hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel and told him to
give me the small scroll. “Yes, take it
and eat it,” he said. “It will be sweet
as honey in your mouth, but it will turn sour in your stomach!” So
I took the small scroll from the hand of the angel, and I ate it! It was sweet in my mouth, but when I
swallowed it, it turned sour in my stomach. Then I was told, “You must prophesy
again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.” Revelation 10:1-11
There is good news, and there is bad news;
when you confuse the two, or can’t see what’s coming, that is terrible
news. When that’s your condition
you can’t appreciate the good, or avoid the bad.
Jesus told the Apostle to swallow the scroll. He told him the good news would be the scroll
would taste like honey in his mouth; the bad news…sour stomach. I can identify! I love Italian food…it is so tasty…but when
it hits my stomach, it’s like the Vikings have landed and started a war down
there.
Centuries before, in Ezekiel’s day, God’s prophet had the same
experience. Eat the scroll, tastes like
honey, but the message was gloom and doom for the enemies of God.[1]
This tells us something that is overwhelmingly invaluable to anyone
wanting to understand God’s ways. Sweet-sounding
messages aren’t always easy deals if you’re not inclined to obey God’s ways. And conversely, harsh messages are only harsh
if you don’t obey God’s ways. The key ingredient of
understanding God’s ways is always an obedient heart receiving God’s Word as
truth!
For You Today
There are about 2,500 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions
library. To dig deeper explore
some of these: Out
of the Frying Pan; Into the Fire and Moving
Shadows
Title Image: Pixabay.com Images without citation are in public
domain.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted
from The New Living Translation©
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