Lenten Reflection: Honey from the Rock

This flower caught my eye while I was taking a walk. After I had noticed it, I saw a dozen more nearby. It struck me as odd. Most plants push out some leaves before blooming a flower, yet this plant, whatever it is, simply has a bright yellow flower, bringing brightness amongst decay and dullness.
March has been a hard month – even before Lent started. When I feel the weight of everything pressing on me, this phrase comes to mind: between a rock and a hard place. I feel like I’ve never understood this expression until now, though I thought I had.
Behind you is a hard place, in front of you is a rock. You can’t move, you have no where to turn. Maybe the rock is so big you can’t see around it. You try to look behind — the hard place. You look to the side — nothing. The other side — nothing. In front of you is the rock, pressing close. You try to push it away, but it won’t move. You are between a rock and a hard place.
Next, another phrase comes to mind: honey from the rock. I recently heard this on Dr. Rossi’s podcast on Ancient Faith. It really stuck with me because my life feels like a rock in a lot of ways — very hard and unchanging. But, as he explains, Christ is the honey, and He comes from a rock. Yet, He is also the rock.
He shares two scriptures with this phrase. :
He raised them on the strength of the land;
Deuteronomy 32:13
He fed them on the produce of the fields;
He suckled them on honey from
the rock and oil from the solid rock.
He fed them with the finest wheat
Psalm 81:17
and satisfied them with honey from the rock.
Dr. Rossi goes on to explain that Christ is the honey and He comes from a rock. Yet, He is also the rock.
We’ve all heard Jesus referred to as the rock. Paul refers to Christ and the situation with the Israelites.
All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:2-4
How might I feel differently about being between a rock and a hard place, if I thought of that rock as Christ? If I realized, I am actually between Christ and a hard place. That Christ is with me in this hard place. That instead of trying to push the rock away with my own strength, I instead embrace the Rock, embrace Christ.
Instead of feeling alone, I see Him who is with me all the time. And I no longer wish to be away and free from this burden of pain and uncertainty, but instead choose to hand it to Christ, my Rock, and ask Him to give me the Honey that can only come from Him.
The Orthodox Study Bible has this comment on Deuteronomy 32:13:
“The rock speaks of Christ, and the oil of the Holy Spirit, and the honey of the spiritual food, for Christ gives us His Holy Spirit.
And so, what if I relize that Christ is my rock and my honey — the sweetness of my life — and that with the hard place, comes the support of Christ as my rock and the sweetness of Him and the Holy Spirit out of that hard place?
What if I turn my thoughts toward this rather than lash out and struggle against things I cannot control? And instead I simply lean into Him, pray, and wait for the honey to come out of the Rock.
This is part of my 2024 Lenten Series. Another post in this series is The Grace of Abstinence.