The Bible is Like Honey

As we begin today, let’s ask God to open our eyes to the wondrous things He has for us in His Word and then read Psalm 119.97-104. As we look as these verses, I want to share with you four ways God’s Word sustains our life on God’s path.

First, God’s Words Captures My Attention (Palm 119.97-98).

In Psalm 119.98, “your commands are always with me.” The word for “always” or “ever” describes God’s Word in Psalm 119.89, “Your word, Lord, is eternal.”

What does it look like to keep God’s Word with us all day?

Joshua 1:8 NIV

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

In the book, The Insanity of God (chapter 19), Gregg Lewis and Nik Ripken, highlight the story of Dmitri, a follower of Christ who spent 17 years in prison because a church formed in his house. Neighbors heard the stories of Scripture that Dmitri shared.

During those years in prison, Dmitri committed to two practices each morning. First, during roll call, he stood at attention and sang a HeartSong to Jesus. The fifteen hundred hardened criminals responded with laughter, cursing, and jeers. Second, any piece of paper he found, he filled it with Scripture and praise. He wrote Scripture with the stub of a pencil or a tiny piece of charcoal. Then, he placed it in a concrete pillar as an offering to God. “Every day, he rose at dawn to sing his song. And every time he found a scrap of paper, he filled it with Scripture and praise. This went on year after year.”

He [Dmitri] was overwhelmed one day by a special gift from God’s hand. In the prison yard, he found a whole sheet of paper. “And God,” Dmitri said, “had laid a pencil beside it!” Dmitri went on, “I rushed back to my jail cell and I wrote every Scripture reference, every Bible verse, every story, and every song I could recall.” “I knew that it was probably foolish,” Dmitri told me, “but I couldn’t help myself. I filled both sides of the paper with as much of the Bible as I could. I reached up and stuck the entire sheet of paper on that wet concrete pillar. Then I stood and looked at it: to me it seemed like the greatest offering I could give Jesus from my prison cell. Of course, my jailor saw it. I was beaten and punished. I was threatened with execution.”

What does it look like to keep God’s Word with you all the day? For Dmitri, singing and writing helped Him remain hopeful and alive in prison. Have you tried to write down a verse each day. The action of reading and writing Scripture helps our soul capture God’s message. Music is another way to saturate our souls with Scripture. Many of the hymns an worship songs find their origin and inspiration from Scripture. Again, if you want to grow in your walk with Jesus, you must engage Scripture daily.

Second, God’s Word Guides My Thinking (Psalm 119.98-100, 104). These verses show the value of God’s Word to give more understanding wisdom than his enemies, his teachers, or the elders. From this Psalm, scripture is the key to leadership. Scripture gives wisdom and understanding.

Even from the garden of Eden, people chase after wisdom. In Genesis 3.6, Eve saw that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom. The same word for wisdom in Genesis 3.6 is translated insight or understanding in Psalm 119.99. We saw this word show up in Joshua 1.8 describing the benefits of meditating on God’s law day and night leads to success.

At age 12, Jesus chose to remain at the temple as his parents journeyed home to Nazareth. After a careful search, His parents found him at the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening, and asking questions. We find the account recorded in Luke 2.46-50.

Luke 2:46–50 NIV

After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

My friend Tom Ewald would often challenge his church at the close of service, “Do something this week only a Christian would do.” To accomplish that goal takes wisdom and understanding that Christ gives.

Third, God’s Word Directs My Path (Psalm 119.101-102, 104). In Psalm 119, the writer highlights “path” or “way” five different times in Psalm 119.9, 15, 101, 104, 128. These verses declare that God’s Word will direct our path. God’s Word defines good and bad, right and wrong. In Psalm 119.101, the writer holds back his feet from the “bad way.” In Psalm 119.104, the writer hates every “false/deceptive way.” God’s Word will help us see the difference between good and bad, true and false. In the older translations the phrase, “hold back” in Psalm 119.101, was translated, “refrained my feet.” The word connects with the theme of imprisonment. I have imprisoned my feet from every evil way.”

Did you put on shoes today? Could you include Psalm 119.101 as you put on your shoes each day? Lord, keep my feet from every evil way. Amen.

In Psalm 119.102, we read, “I have not departed from your laws/instructions, for you yourself have taught me.” Have you ever thought about reading the Bible as sitting down for a lesson? Have you thought about time in God’s Word as time with the God of the universe who loves you and teaches you. How cool to think about the God of the universe spending some one on one time with you to teach you the riches of His knowledge. He can teach you how to love your enemies, raise your kids, honor your leaders, balance your budget, and get a good night’s rest.

He is your teacher and want to help you on His good path.

Jesus taught about those same two paths in His sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7, we read about the two paths.

Matthew 7:13–14 ESV

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Fourth, God’s Word delights My Soul. The Psalmist gives the sweet experience of honey in Psalm 119.103. The Psalmist picks up on this sweet theme from another Psalm that highlights God’s Word, Psalm 19.10.

Psalm 19:10 NIV

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.

Listen to these observations on the value of honey.

HONEY NEVER SPOILS

When sealed in an airtight container, honey has an eternal shelf life. There are even reports of edible honey being found in several-thousand-year-old Egyptian tombs.

HONEY IS MEDICINAL

Evidence of honey being prescribed as a medical treatment dates back as far as ancient Mesopotamia. Because the substance is so inhospitable to bacteria, it was often used as a natural bandage to protect cuts and burns from infection. Today, honey is still used as a natural treatment for dandruff, stomach ulcers, and even seasonal allergies.

HONEY IS GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE ECONOMY

The environment depends on the pollination that occurs when honey bees gather nectar. Bees pollinate $20 billion worth of U.S. crops each year, and approximately one third of all food eaten by Americans is either directly or indirectly derived from honey bee pollination.

In 2010, I traveled to Indonesia to visit our mission partners. During the first few days in Indonesia, my sinuses hurt, I suffered from the effects of flying around the globe. As we visited with a group of Christians, they offered us some of their local honey. They mixed the honey into the glass of water. After drinking the honey and water, my sinuses cleared. I felt much better. Honey can be good medicine.

Do you remember Dmitri? He story continued.

Dmitri was dragged from his cell. As he was dragged down the corridor in the center of the prison, the strangest thing happened. Before they reached the door leading to the courtyard—before stepping out into the place of execution—fifteen hundred hardened criminals stood at attention by their beds. They faced the east and they began to sing. Dmitri told me that it sounded to him like the greatest choir in all of human history. Fifteen hundred criminals raised their arms and began to sing the HeartSong that they had heard Dmitri sing to Jesus every morning for all of those years. Dmitri’s jailers instantly released their hold on his arms and stepped away from him in terror. One of them demanded to know, “Who are you?” Dmitri straightened his back and stood as tall and as proud as he could. He responded: “I am a son of the Living God, and Jesus is His name!” The guards returned him to his cell. Sometime later, Dmitri was released and he returned to his family. (Insanity of God, chapter 19).

Scripture and song sustained Dmitri’s soul during 17 years of prison. Psalm 119 is a song all about Scripture. I pray that we can join Dmitri and countless others to find the joy of God’s Word, the beauty of His song that will sustain us in this life ahead. In other words, God’s Word sustains my life on God’s path.

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