Psalm 119:103

Psalm 119:103

Sweeter than honey

Israel is a land of honey. The vast arable fields are characterised by their giant irrigation systems and also, in many cases, by the lines of beehives that stretch along the boundaries as far as the eye can see. The honeycombs are so plentiful that they sit in racks on hotel breakfast bars and visitors can just break chunks off and sample the rich, sweet honey that oozes out! 

The writer of Psalm 119 finds similar sweetness and pleasure in sampling the Word of God, he reaches out and eagerly devours the succulent riches of the Word, it is more than just bread to his soul, it has an element of purity and luxury, just like a dripping, mouth-watering honeycomb. 

This Psalm has turned out to be like that for me and I hope for you too. It loomed like a large, gloomy mountain over me as I waded through the psalms that preceded it, I skipped over them lightly, enjoying the brief respite that they offered before the ascent of the big peak! I had read Psalm 119 but remembered little, the verses seemed to overlap or run into each other, and they all seemed to be saying similar things. The reality is so different, here is a psalmist who has grown to love the Word of God so much that he can’t stop writing about it. Every verse, he finds something fresh to say and every sentence contains a tiny fragment of his delight, pleasure and trust in the Word of God. He has grasped something that few of us do, this Book is the Lord God’s direct letter to you and me. It is as if He took up a pen and decided to write to us direct, in so doing He wanted us to grasp His ways and His plans and He used Israel and the prophets to help us to understand. He has shown us, individually, why He had to come to our world and what that means for us, living in 21st Century. This is God’s Book, written to you, every sentence carefully chosen, every event carefully recorded, every detail accurately described. How sweet are these words, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

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