HONEY FOR THE SOUL

My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off. (Proverbs 24:13-14 ESV)

Out of curiosity, I did a Google Search for “health benefits of honey,” and Google said there were about 37 million results — I skimmed over one (Wikipedia) and found that among other things, “Honey contains powerful antioxidants with antiseptic and antibacterial properties.” Apparently, it’s use has been well documented in many cultures and religions. 

I just like honey because it tastes good. While we don’t eat at KFC very often, there is something special about one of their biscuits toped with butter and honey. I don’t know if it’s strange, but as a child, I liked to dip my McNuggets in honey. For an occasional snack, my boys like to have toast with butter and, you guessed it, honey. I suspect we all have memories of eating honey, and can almost taste it now.

As sweet as honey is on the palate, so is wisdom to the soul. That’s the message of Proverbs 24:13-14. Perhaps its health benefits also apply to the analogy. As the passage notes, nourished by wisdom, the soul sees a future and hope that cannot be cut off. That’s because true wisdom always points us back to God, and His sovereignty and loving care.  If we are operating on our own, without wise counsel, we tend to get near-sighted, thinking only of our current circumstances. However, with wise counsel, we get our eyes off ourselves and back onto God. 

As I noted a couple of weeks ago, you always leave a conversation with a truly wise person thinking differently than you did at the beginning of the conversation.  The same should be true of our encounters with Scripture. God’s Word should refresh our perspective, bring spiritual nourishment and healing, and have a sweet savor. May we always remember how sweet it is! May we, like David, proclaim, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103 ESV) 

In His grip, 

Pastor Decker