Sweeter Than Honey

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

As a writer, it pains me to admit this, but I didn’t enjoy reading when I was younger. Most books I ingested were read aloud to me by my ever-so-patient mother, who helped me finish my reading assignments for school. It wasn’t until my early twenties that I developed a ravenous hunger for reading. This hunger was stirred in me by a mentor whose love for God’s Word was contagious.

Seated on the carpet in her lime-green living room, I took in God’s Word as if my mentor were spooning the most delectable honey into my mouth. Alongside other women, ranging from twenty-somethings to women with graying hair, I tasted the sweetness of God’s Word. I’ve been hungry for it ever since.

In the children’s book The Bee Tree, a little girl named Mary Ellen doesn’t like to read, so her grandfather takes her on a bee hunt. They find several honeybees and begin to follow their zigzag, loop-de-loop path to the hive. Along the way, onlookers, friends, and neighbors join the adventure, following the bees to their home.

In the end, the group arrives at the bee tree and gathers honey from the hive. Back home, the little girl’s grandfather takes a spoonful of the honey they collected from their journey and drips it onto a book for her to taste and savor.

“There is such sweetness inside of that book too! . . . Such things . . . adventure, knowledge, and wisdom. . . . Just like we ran after the bees to find their tree, so you must also chase these things through the pages of a book!” he urges the little girl. And that is exactly what she does.^a

When I read this book for the first time to my boys, I couldn’t help but think about the Book containing words that are sweeter than honey. The psalmist writes, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103). The more we taste the precious words of God, the more the rest of the world loses its flavor. God’s Word changes our spiritual tastebuds and satisfies our hungry souls.

Like the little girl in The Bee Tree, we must learn to chase after God’s Word more than anything else. To know God’s Word is to know him. To delight in God’s Word is to delight in him. To taste the sweetness of God’s Word is to enjoy his goodness. But we cannot know him, delight in him, or taste his goodness if we do not open our mouths for him to drip the honey of his Word into. Of all the words in the world, among the millions of books written, none compare to the Word of God. Surround yourself with his Word and with others who desire God’s Word. Together, you can journey toward the cross, the tree Jesus hung on so you could taste the sweetness of salvation.

Chase after the treasures in Scripture, where you will find the greatest adventure as you follow Christ. Savor your Savior as you taste and see that he is the definition of all that is good and sweet.

Word before World God’s Word is sweeter than the sweetest honey.

Grow in Grace If you are able to, grab a spoonful of honey to savor as you read Psalm 34. Allow the sweetness of the bees’ nectar to instill in you a tangible reminder of the sweetness of God’s Word.