I’m pretty sure my children would not eat Shredded Wheat if each bit was not half-covered in sugar. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t either. Have you ever eaten them that way? Ugh. Pass the sugar bowl. Human beings would coat the world in sugar if they could. The witch in Hansel and Gretel story knew what she was doing.

This principle applies to most areas of life. To “sugar-coat” an event is to leave out the negative and only discuss the high points. This can be quite a temptation! Who wants to bother with details that might be disturbing, damaging, or critical? Who wants to see something clearly when all of the flaws stand out? Ugh. Forget the negative and pass me the sugar bowl.

Thankfully – by God’s incredible design – the Bible is not a sugar-coated book. The Bible is more concerned with the truth than with painting a rosy picture of its heroes. We can see this throughout the Old Testament. Abraham lies about Sarah being his wife (Genesis 12:10-20). Jacob cheats, lies, and steals (Genesis 25:29 – 31:55) Jacob’s sons are jealous and murderous (Genesis 34:25-29; 37:17-36). All of this (and so much more!) in the Bible’s first book! The Bible does not see these event through rose-colored glasses. The Bible gives us the people of these stories as they were – warts and all.

In reading through these stories recently, I was struck by how negative it all is. The sinful tendencies of people, described so clearly, ruins live time after time. These stories also gave me hope. First of all, it is good to know that these are not Greek demigods who float above the rest of us. These characters are just like us with the same weakness and follies. Second, it is clear that God wanted us to know that what we hold in our hands is the truth. The Bible doesn’t inflate the weaknesses of Israel’s enemies and exaggerate the goodness of the heroes. The Bible does what it promises… it gives us the truth. The truth has a sweetness about it that needs no additional sugar.