Hello my friend Dr. Brad Miller here with the Daily Bible Refresh.

This is your daily reading of the Bible from a progressive point of view.

In a bit I will read the New Testament lesson selected from the Revised Common Lectionary for this very day.

The reading is understandable.

I use the message version relatable.

Please listen to the points to ponder and applicable with action steps you can take.

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Here's today's reading from the Revelation chapter 10 from the Message I saw another powerful angel coming down out of heaven, wrapped in a cloud.

There was a rainbow over his head and his face was sun radiant, his legs pillars of fire.

He had a small book open in his hand, and he placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot in the land.

Then he called out thunderously a lion roar.

Then he called out the seven thunders called back.

When the seven thunders spoke, I started to write it all down, but a voice out of heaven stopped me, saying, seal with silence the seven thunders don't write a word.

Then the angel I saw astride sea and land lifted his right hand to heaven and swore by the One living forever and ever who created heaven and everything in it, earth and everything in it, sea and everything in it.

That time was up that when the seventh angel blew his trumpet, which he was about to do, the mystery of God, all the plans he had revealed to his servants, the prophets would be completed.

And the voice out of heaven spoke to me again, go take the book held open in the hand of the angel astride sea and earth.

And I went up to the angel and said, give me the little book.

And he said, take it and eat.

Will taste sweet like honey, but turns sour in your stomach.

And I took the little book from the angel's hand and it was sweet like honey in my mouth, but when I swallowed it, my stomach curdled.

Then I was told, you must go back and prophesy again over many peoples and languages and nations and kings.

Well, that concludes the reading here, son, my good friends, about this passage from Revelation 10 and let's just settle in for just a Minute here.

Revelation is always kind of a tough book to get our heads around.

And we're reading from the message translation here today.

And sometimes the revelation can be a little bit intimidating.

I think it intimidates me.

Sometimes we hear Revelation, our mind kind of goes to, you know, scary movies and end of the world, Armageddon kind of countdown clocks.

But let's sit down with this book for a little bit and passages like today's and find out some more deeply human and deeply hopeful messages that are here.

So let's just take a look at a couple of points to ponder.

The first point to ponder is this.

Not everything is ours to know.

And that actually is a gift.

So did you catch that moment?

John hears the seven thunders speak and he's ready to write it all down.

He's sort of like a journalist at heart, right?

And God says, no, seal it, don't write a word.

So some things remain a mystery.

And I think in a faith culture that often rewards certainty, where people build entire empires around claiming to have the revelation figured out, charts and graphs and timelines and predictions, this is a wonderfully humbling moment.

God essentially says, some of this isn't for you to package and distribute.

My wife and I like to hike through wooded parks and national parks and state parks.

And when we travel, one of the things I learned on the trail is that you don't have to name every bird or every tree or everything to identify everything in order to enjoy it.

Sometimes the mystery is the point, and I think God invites us to that same posture here.

We don't have to have it all figured out to be faithful.

In fact, maybe the most faithful thing we can do is hold some things in holy silence, not just let God be God.

Second point to ponder, real truth is both sweet and sour or hard to swallow.

So it says here that John eats the scroll, eats the book, and it's like honey in his mouth, but it sours in his stomach.

And I kind of really.

I had to process that imagery for a minute.

But I really love it because it's honest about what it means to carry a prophetic word.

The good news of God's love, God's justice, God's deep welcome is for all peoples and nations and languages.

That, that's sweet.

That's the best news of the world.

But living it out, that's sometimes tough to swallow.

Speaking into systems and structures that don't want to hear it, that can churn your gut up.

Every week on my cancer related podcast, you know, I'm with people who are walking through a tough, tough path through some of the hardest seasons of their lives.

And the truth I carry into those conversations is both sweet and bitter.

Hope is real and suffering is real too.

You can have both at the same time.

So being a person of faith doesn't mean everything goes down easy.

Sometimes the truest word will carry you and it will also cost you something.

So here's your action step for the day this week.

I want you to identify one truth you've been avoiding because it's just hard to swallow.

Maybe it's a difficult conversation you need to have with a spouse or family member or co worker.

Maybe you've been just putting that thing off.

Maybe it's an area in your life where you know that there's an injustice and you need to speak some word of justice into it and it's just uncomfortable to do.

Name it, write it down, do something about it, and then ask God for the courage to digest it, even if it may taste sweet at first and be a little sour later.

But the idea here is to get on with it and let this process do its full work on you want to pray here in just a minute.

I want to remind you we've got a great resource for you.

It's called the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible Study Method.

Free to you if you go to our website voiceofgoddaily.com let's pray.

God, we come to you today as people who honestly don't have it all figured out.

And we're learning to be okay with that.

And some of us are carrying words that taste sweet in our mouth but sit heavy in our stomachs.

And some of us are tired from trying to make sense of everything when maybe you're just asking us just to trust the mystery.

So give us courage for the hard conversations.

Give us humility to sit with that which we don't understand and give us the kind of joy that sustains.

Send us back out to speak hope over every person, no matter what complicated the situation is, every nation, every language we encounter, even when it costs us something.

And we trust you with what we cannot see.

Amen.

My friend, I am delighted you chose to join me for today's reading.

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My name is Dr. Brad Miller.

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Remember, God's loyal love doesn't run out.

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It's created new every morning.