Sweeter than Honey

 

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. (Psalm 119:97-104 ESV).

 

One of the universal sweeteners is honey. People have enjoyed eating it on buttered toast or drizzled on fruit. My personal favorite is putting it in a cup of hot tea. I have come to be somewhat of a connoisseur when it comes from the nectar produced by our little friends, the honey bees. Honey does taste different depending on the location of the pollen collected and converted by the bees. It can have a distinct flavor based on where the bees have foraged. For example, the honey predominantly produced in Maine will be lighter in color and sweetness with a slight flavor of blueberry; and, the honey produced in the areas growing wheat will be stronger, with a dark color, tasting somewhat like molasses.

 

Our reading compares the Scripture with honey. Here David says it is “sweeter than honey” (v. 103). Perhaps you’ve not experienced that in your reading of the Scripture. If that’s the case, let me make some suggestions:

 

First, try it. You cannot discover that honey is sweet by putting a jar of it on the kitchen table and merely looking at it. You don’t believe that honey is sweet because it smells sweet or even because you heard someone say that it was sweet. You know that honey is sweet because you put some honey on your tongue. You tasted it for yourself. The same is true about reading the Bible; you must taste it for yourself. That is why the Bible says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” (Psalm 34:8). Tasting the Bible for yourself takes some real effort on your part, but it is really worth it.

 

Second, live by it. As the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all living things, God knows what’s best for living in his world. If we want to learn and be guided by his wisdom, we need to turn to his Word. God’s Word guides and blesses all who seek his wisdom. Honey is both sweet and nourishing. Taste God’s Word: it’s sweeter and better for you than anything else. Then dig into it each day and find nourishment for your soul and truth to live by.