Sweetness In the Bible - Essay Example

Full Dulce ‘There are two sides of a coin’ is a saying that may as well allow a person to see and understand things in this world that may seem confusing. For instance, where there is good, there is evil and the two occur to give a more defined understanding of their meanings. One may not understand and appreciate what good is in the absence of evil, light would be boring without darkness, white would not be seen as it is without black, and the list goes on. The same applies to sweetness and bitterness.

The former is desired more and the latter is avoided. However, a person may not avoid bitterness until he experiences it and this is probably the principle of the God of the Hebrews who allowed his beloved people to undergo so many hardships in their lives. On a general note, the Israelites were exposed to many difficulties but the plans of God were for their good and not their destruction, for their faith in him to be strengthened and not to be misled by false gods. David’s stand against an undefeated giant is a story of God’s help.

Introduced as the youngest in his family, perceived as unable because of his age and portrayed as good only for bringing food for his warrior brothers but not in engaging in manly responsibilities like being in a war, David was an unlikely hero. With such a description, he could be just another kid on the block, unable to do extraordinary things. However, he proved to be a man of faith who was strongly jealous for his God so that in his anger towards the giant who belittled his God and his people, David killed Goliath with only a stone and a sling.

Such circumstance placed the young man on a pedestal where he was revered, yet for him maintained his humility and faith in God. This example has been caused by God to be written in the most popular book in the world, and the man to be remembered hundreds of generations after him. Dependence on the God who gives and is able to take away is Job’s testimony. Considered a righteous man by God himself, Job seemed to have been unjustly inflicted with all the pains he had been through in just a day.

As a prayerful man, one can say that he did not deserve to lose all his possessions, sons, daughters and servants in just a single day. Yet that was what happened to him and as though that would not be enough, he was suffered from skin disease that made him scratch himself with broken pottery. His friends were not of help to him either because they added to his hardships with their accusing words that he might have sinned against God to deserve all the punishments he was experiencing. His wife ridiculed him.

Yet in the end, his health was restored, all his wealth and children were replaced after the seemingly unconquerable test. The courage of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who survived the fiery furnace are now an encouragement to modern Bible believers. Bowing to an image may seem to be a trivial thing however, to the three young Jews, it was infidelity to the God they served so that they would rather take on a tragic death than obey the king’s command. Such faith touched the heart of God so that He sent an angel to protect them and let the king proclaim their God to be revered, and had the three Jewish friends promoted.

The aforementioned stories of faith established monuments of the characters that no wars, fire, time or natural calamities could destroy. Monuments not made of stone, but of words that immortalized them, instilled in the minds and hearts of men, sharing the sweetness of their victories in the end. After all, desserts are served at the end of the meal.