Honey in the Wine
Psalm 34: 1-8
One of the latest ice-cream flavours going round is “Chocolate Chilli Ice-Cream”
Questions: Chill or Hot? Refreshing or Sizzling? ICE or FIRE? Well I can tell you it has got a unique taste; your tongue burns and cools off at the same time; it makes it more interesting when you take a bite and allow it to melt with your tongue hanging out. But I can assure you, it is really good and its worth giving up all other ice-creams this summer just to have one scoop of this Chocolate Chilli Ice-Cream.
Are you game for it?
Let’s move to something more familiar! Something we know.
How about Honey?
Now you will agree there is a difference between talking about the taste of honey and actually tasting it. You may know honey is sweet but will still not know anything about its exquisite taste; but if you have tasted honey once; next time you talk of honey; the memory of the taste of honey you experienced earlier will come back to you and you will find yourself unconsciously smacking your lips!
When David calls us to taste and see that the Lord is good He is calling us to try Him, trust Him and testify about Him. It is an invitation to a great experience; it is also an affirmation of what he has experienced in his own life.
Racing back to Exodus, we come upon a captivating scene: There is excited talk in the Israelite Camp in the wilderness: At the break of dawn, something spectacular is going to happen – God is going to provide food miraculously to over a million people right in the middle of the desert. One by one, scepticism turns to wonder; wonder turns to expectation; expectation turns to hope; hope turns to belief and to faith! …….We all know faith cometh through hearing; Israel had heard that God will feed, and now Israel believes.
As the sun starts peeping out, people who perhaps remained awake throughout the in anticipation, now see covering the ground a new kind of grain resembling the coriander seed.
“This, this,” they say, “Is the food that God has sent to us.” This is faith by sight;
They take it up in their hands. They examine it, to get a feel of what it is.
This is faith coming through touch.
They bring it up to their nostrils to ascertain its character through its odour -
This is faith judging and discerning as smell.
And finally, they place it in their mouths, and one of them says, “It tastes like honey.”
This is experiencing faith; tasting and enjoying it to the full, for now they have come, not to hear of, nor see, nor smell, nor touch, alone, but as men and women and children to eat the food of God. We see a beautiful progression of Faith; starting from hearing to tasting.
Experiences are sensorial – multi-media, communication strategies. Advertisements capitalize on this- visuals, musical scores, testing strips, trial rooms and sample bites. However, if you note the degree of intimacy, it progresses from the far to the near; from the near to the inside. When you taste something, you are actually taking it inside, into yourself; making it part of you.
Now we can start warming up to what David is speaking of -David is calling us to actually taste and confirm that the Lord is good - not just believe it because he says so; but an invitation and a challenge to experience it on our own.
Psalm 34 has a unique context to it. One translation has an interesting statement just under the title: “Of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.” What is this all about?
David wrote this Psalm after a dangerous situation where he felt that his life was threatened. It happened when David was fleeing for his life from King Saul in 1 Samuel 21. We know that through his disobedience, Saul displeased God and God chooses David in his stead. David’s military success and popularity infuriate Saul making him an arch enemy who begins to thirst for his blood. David, in dire danger leaves behind his homeland and heads for refuge to Philistia, a nation which is the sworn enemy of Israel. Perhaps, it is David’s hope that he can get himself enlisted as a paid solider of Achish, King of Gath. However, the servants in the court recognize him, and they tell the King that David is a famed and feared man of war from the enemy camp. David’s battle exploits now go against him. It is not difficult for Philistine memory to recall how David had slain Goliath or his marching back to Jerusalem triumphantly after putting ‘tens of thousands’ of Philistines to the edge of his sword.
1 Samuel 21:12-15 tell us what happened next:
12 And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 So he changed his behaviour before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard (1 Sam 21:12-13).
This is bizarre stuff! David clawing at the doors of the gate, foaming at the mouth, flailing his arms, rocking his body and acting insane. This spectacle is so startling and intimidating, the King of Gath wants nothing to do with him:
14 Then Achish said to his servants, "Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?" (1 Sam 21:14-15).
David experiences a miraculous escape from the hand of the Philistine King. Immediately after this, David writes Psalm 34 as a celebration of what God has done for him. His experience of deliverance gives him spiritual eyesight to see life differently. This Psalm is important to us because it can give us spiritual eyesight – eyes of faith – to see life differently when life seems to get out of hand; fearful, terrifying; impossible any longer.
So what do you say in moments like this? What comes to your lips when you know that the Lord has just saved you from a dire situation? Wouldn’t you start praying a little differently, perhaps with a little more meaning and depth than you used to earlier? Now sing with a little more enthusiasm and conviction of the words in the song than before? There is something about tasting the deliverance of God that gives you spiritual eyesight to see, take and hold life differently.
At the very first miracle of Jesus - Wedding in Cana – we witness a joyful scene of song and dance, jubilation and celebration – Suddenly there is a shadow and a silence. Behind the curtains, we hear a quivering whisper, “They have no wine.” Life is going on a splendid note and without warning; an unexpected situation; leading to dismay and despair. Mary, looks to Jesus for help. Jesus comes back with an enigmatic response: My hour has not yet come.
Not dissuaded by this, Mary tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
We see Mary preparing the hearts and the hands of the servants to trust Jesus completely; to obey without questioning and act promptly.
Jesus sees this response of faith from Mary and the servants. And now something extra-ordinary happens. Jesus issues an odd instruction: “Fill the jars with water.” What has filling up of stone jars used for ceremonial washing to do with the lack of wine? Without demur, the servants start filling the jars to the brim. Jesus now directs the servants “Draw some out and take it to the chief steward.” It is the job of the steward to first sample the quality of wine before serving. When the steward tastes the wine he is filled with amazement. He turns to the bridegroom, “You have kept the best wine till the very end.”
But friends, this is not the very end….it is only the beginning!
At the end, when His Hour has indeed come, Jesus pours out wine to his disciples and asks them to drink it. It is a better wine; a far better wine; the best wine ever – a wine from the True Vine; a wine of love, joy, peace…………it is the wine of eternal life!
We need to ask, did Jesus’ disciples who shared the Passover Cup realize the true taste of this wine …? When did they really get to ‘taste and see’ that the Lord is good? In Gethsemane? At Calvary? At the empty tomb? At the shore of the Sea of Tiberius?
When a boy who has problem with his studies suddenly gains confidence and starts doing well; when a girl who is depressed finds encouragement; when a father who loses his job gets another job offer; when a mother whose health is breaking down starts feeling better; when a fragile relationship at home improves and is now one happy family; Very much like the Steward in the Wedding at Cana, we appreciate the fine wine and give thanks and the story ends.
But it is only when we get a real ‘sense’ of who God is and what God means to us; a new world of grace is revealed. This comes through experience and experience alone. This cannot be taught or bought; it has to be caught! When in my dark moments; in my loneliness and my pain; in my failure and hopelessness; like David I reach out and put my trust wholly in Him; I come to understand the meaning of ‘sweetness in the honey’ - the ‘ life in the wine’ - ‘the peace that surpasses human understanding’ and the ‘joy of the Lord is my strength’. I not only learn who God is; I experience Him.
. Psalm 34 is a song of gratitude when God brings you out of a “close call” moment. (Illustration: Man hanging on a cliff edge eating a ripe strawberry with a hungry tiger above and a hungry tiger below)
David is looking to God for his ultimate redemption. His joy of the rescue from the clutches of Achish of Gath is only a foretaste of a future redemption that God will bring to all who put their trust in Him.
David left his nail marks on the wood and walked away with his life.
Jesus left his blood stained nail marks on the wood so that you and I can walk away with eternal life.
David tried; David trusted; David testifies.
Now it is time for you to Try –to Trust –and to Testify ………
I am sure you would like try the Chocolate Chilli Ice-Cream we talked about…..
How much more should you want to Taste and see that the Lord is good?
How sweet the taste of your promise is! It tastes sweeter than honey.
Blessings and Amen!
Sam Chandar
