Looking For The Honey Or "Sweetness In Bitter Times”

LOOKING FOR THE HONEY

“Sweetness in Bitter Times”

Psalm 81:16 “He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.”

Most travelers who have visited Palestine in summer have had their attention directed to the abundance of honey, which the bees of the land have stored up in the hollows of trees and in crevices of the rock. In localities where the bare rocks of the desert alone break the sameness of the scene, and all around is suggestive of desolation and death, the traveler has God's care of his chosen people vividly brought to mind, as he sees the honey which the bees had treasured up beyond his reach, trickling in shining drops down the face of the rock. John Duns.

You and I know that honey is perhaps the sweetest thing that nature can produce; and a rock is one of the hardest things in nature. So, here we have sweetness coming out of hardness. This is one of God’s promises, and you should claim it for yourself. Warren W. Wiersbe pg 50 “The Bumps Are What You Climb On”

The psalm is of special importance to the church now, as reminding it of its obligation from the past mercies of God, and as showing what would be the consequences if it should be wholly devoted to the service of God. Barnes’ Notes

I. HONEY

A. Palestine abounded with bees, and honey was a favorite article of food. Much of that which was obtained was wild honey, deposited by the bees in the hollows of trees, and as it would seem in the caverns of the rocks. Much of it was gathered also from rocky regions, and this was regarded as the most delicate and valuable. The meaning here is plain, that, if Israel had been obedient to God, he would have blessed them with abundance — with the richest and most coveted productions of the field. Pure religion — obedience to God — morality — temperance, purity, honesty, and industry, such as religion requires — are always eminently favorable to individual and national prosperity; and if a man or a nation desired to be most prospered, most successful in the lawful and proper objects of individual or national existence, and most happy, nothing would tend more to conduce to it than those virtues which piety enjoins and cultivates. Individuals and nations, even in respect to temporal prosperity, are most unwise, as well as most wicked, when they disregard the laws of God, and turn away from the precepts and the spirit of religion. Barnes’ Notes

B. Out Of The Rock.

06697 tsuwr {tsoor} or tsur {tsoor} from 06696; TWOT - 1901a; n m AV - rock 64, strength 5, sharp 2, God 2, beauty 1, edge 1, stones 1, mighty One 1, strong 1; 78

1) rock, cliff

1a) rocky wall, cliff

1b) rock (with flat surface)

1c) block of stone, boulder

1d) rock (specific)

1e) rock (of God)

1f) rock (of heathen gods) n pr dei

1g) Rock

C. Found In Difficult Places

1. In the days when the Bible was written, bees made their homes in rocky places, and sometimes the honey would ooze out when the rocks got hot. Out of the hard places in life, God gives us sweetness. www.honeygardens.com/redsea.html

2. God extracts honey out of the rock—the sweetest springs and pleasures from the hardness of afflictions; from mount Calvary and the cross, the blessings that give greatest delight; whereas the world makes from the fountains of pleasure stones and rocks of torment. Thomas Le Blanc.

D. Satisfies

07646 saba` {saw-bah'} or sabea` {saw-bay'-ah} a primitive root; TWOT - 2231; v AV - satisfy 47, fill 25, full 15, plenty 2, enough 2, satiate 1, sufficed 1, unsatiable 1, weary 1; 95

1) to be satisfied, be sated, be fulfilled, be surfeited

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to be sated (with food)

1a2) to be sated, be satisfied with, be fulfilled, be filled, have one's fill of (have desire satisfied)

1a3) to have in excess, be surfeited, be surfeited with

1a3a) to be weary of (fig)

1b) (Piel) to satisfy

1c) (Hiphil)

1c1) to satisfy

1c2) to enrich

1c3) to sate, glut (with the undesired)

E. A Promise

Famine would have been an unknown word, they would have been fed on the best of the best food, and have had abundance of it as their every day diet.

II. FINDING THE HONEY

A. Naturally:

Place something sweet in an area that you suspect the bees might be.

Watch diligently until the bees arrive.

Follow the bees as far as possible.

Put out something sweet again.

Follow the bees again.

Repeat until the bee hive is located.

B. Spiritually

When you find yourself in a difficult situation, quit thinking about yourself and do an act of sweetness.