My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
Proverbs 24:13-14 (NRSV)

When I was young I was not a fan of honey! I didn’t like the waxy honeycomb and I really didn’t care for the natural sweetener. If the honey was an ingredient of say, “Honey” Graham Crackers or “Honey Nut Cheerios,” then these products were fine with me. I liked them, but I had not yet acquired a taste for honey.

Honey is a natural sweetener. According to Wikipedia, “Honey is a sugary substance produced and stored by certain social hymenopteran insects. It is produced from the sugary secretions of plants or insects such as floral nectar or aphid honeydew, through regurgitation, enzymatic activity or water evaporation. The variety of honey produced by honey bees is the most well-known, due to its worldwide commercial production and human consumption.”

Today I enjoy honey! There are many varieties such as blueberry, clover, dandelion, lavender, sage, sourwood and wildflower. I especially like orange blossom honey and Tupelo honey. It is delicious on buttered biscuits or toast. I like it as an ingredient in baked goods or prepared foods.

Of foods, honey is one that characteristically does not spoil. It may crystallize as it ages. As far as its taste and safety are concerned it does not spoil. It does contain spores that can cause botulism in children under the age of one and so they are not to consume this food. Because it does not spoil is a good reason for comparing it to wisdom. As honey is good and sweet to the taste, so wisdom is good for our souls. In wisdom we find a future. In wisdom we have hope.

In these turbulent times, when the future looks bleak we need to look to God for wisdom. In this dangerous world in which we live we need to look to God for wisdom that we may be gifted with hope for the living of these days. Our souls long to be comforted and encouraged. Perhaps we all could begin our days by taking a teaspoon of honey and remembering that God’s wisdom is sweetness to our souls.

Prayer

O God, You led Your people Israel to a land flowing with milk and honey. We thank You for our daily bread and for giving us good gifts to enjoy. As honey is sweet to our taste, grant that Your wisdom may be equally tasty and so nourish our souls. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.