Bitter Chocolate
One of the favorite songs in our Sunday school is from a story in the Bible about a man named Zaccheus. He wanted to see the Lord Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. He ran ahead, climbed a tree, and in the end he found “something more than gold,” as the song says. You can read the story in Luke chapter 19.
I also climbed a tree when I was a boy, not so I could see someone, but so no one could see me. It’s part of the story of how I learned what is sweeter than chocolate.
I had been watching Mom making dessert. She was putting brown chunks in a pan, and I knew it was chocolate. Now, I loved chocolate, and I began thinking how I could take some of the leftover chocolate when Mom wasn’t around and enjoy it all for myself.
Later, when Mom went upstairs, I found the box of chocolate and took a nice big chunk, thinking that Mom wouldn’t miss just one piece. Then I ran outside to a tree where we boys sometimes hid and climbed up to where the branches made a nice spot to rest. Not till then did I bite into the chunk of chocolate, expecting the delicious taste I loved so well.
“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good,” the Bible says in Proverbs 15:33The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3). The Lord saw me in that tree, just as He saw Zaccheus in his tree, and He had a surprise and a lesson for me. Whether or not you know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, are you trying to hide things from those around you or even from the Lord? He sees and knows everything, even the thoughts that you think. If they are sinful thoughts, He wants you to know that He died for you and wants to forgive your sins and fill you with joy and happiness.
I thought that the chocolate I had taken would fill me with pleasure, but as I took that first big bite, expecting sweetness, YECCHHH! I found only bitterness, and I had to spit out what was in my mouth. I tried to figure out what was wrong, but it wasn’t until I had gone back in the house and secretly looked at the box that I found out that I had taken a piece of unsweetened baking chocolate!
I wish I could say that I learned my lesson then, but another verse says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:99The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)). The next thing I did was to take another chunk of that chocolate along with some sugar. I put the sugar in my mouth and then took a bite of the chocolate. I guess it takes a lot of sugar to sweeten unsweetened chocolate, because it was still much too bitter to enjoy. Again, I had to spit it out. Twice now I had sinned in taking the chocolate, but I still wasn’t through sinning.
Later, when Mom was using that chocolate again, she noticed that some pieces were missing. She asked me if I knew anything about it. I was afraid I would get in trouble if I told her what I had done, so I lied and said I didn’t know anything about it.
God hates a lying tongue (Proverbs 6:16-1716These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, (Proverbs 6:16‑17)), and I certainly didn’t feel very good about what I had done, but God has made a provision for that too. First John 1:77The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. (John 1:7) says that “the blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Verse 9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Isn’t that wonderful!
I did confess to God what I had done. God cannot let sin go unpunished. For those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their very own Saviour, God has punished His Son instead of us, so we don’t have to be afraid of being punished for our sins. But the Bible also says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:77Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)). Some things that we do early in life may come back to trouble us, so let’s be careful what we do. Just as Zaccheus found out that knowing that his sins were forgiven was far better than gold, I have learned that being obedient and truthful is much sweeter than any chocolate could ever be.
I hope that if you haven’t already accepted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour and had your sins washed away in His blood, you will, just now as you read this, and that you will live your life for Him. Then you will find what Zaccheus and I have found: “O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:88O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (Psalm 34:8)).
ML-12/01/1996