"Sweet to your taste"

Article 1 of 2*

13 My son, eat honey, for it is good,

Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;

14 Know that wisdom is thus for your soul;

If you find it, then there will be a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 24:13-14

I’m glad Solomon says what he says in verse 13. It’s a reminder that food is good – and that good food is good! And so I feel just a little bit better about my enjoyment of sweet tea (my own personal honey, as it were), and m a y b e even about fried chicken (not sweet, but still delicious)! There is something to be said, according to Solomon, about enjoying that which is “sweet to your taste” – and for that I am thankful.

But Solomon extols the sweetness of honey, of course, not mainly to teach his son about physical eating, but in order to say something about his spiritual diet! And the Holy Spirit, of course, inspired these things for us, as well as for Solomon’s son! And what we are told is that, in the same way that “honey … is sweet to your taste” (v.13), “wisdom is thus for your soul” (v.14).

Wisdom is sweet to the soul! Wisdom delights the palate of the inner-most being! Haven’t you discovered that to be true, Christian? Haven’t you found that the word of God (which is true wisdom) is “sweet to your taste”? Haven’t you experienced the Scriptures – read personally, read publically, and preached – delighting your spiritual taste buds?

The psalmist put it like this in Psalm 119:103:

How sweet are Your words to my taste!
Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

God’s word is a delight! Would that I craved it like I sometimes have a hankering for sweet tea! And would that I would remember, when a perfect glass of sweet tea stimulates and satisfies my taste buds, that the wisdom of the Bible will do the same (and even better, Psalm 119:103), if I will drink it in!

And, oh, this wise word of God will be sweet to you, as well, my friend … if you will “taste and see” (Psalm 34:8)! Think of this reality when you crave – and when you are privileged to enjoy – whatever it is that peculiarly delights your palate.

Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;
Know that wisdom is thus for your soul

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*I hope to come back, in the next article, and consider v.14b-c – where we are told that wisdom ensures “a future” to, and maintains the “hope” of, those who “find it” (blessings which, when we consider v.14b-c in connection with the three lines prior, must surely be seen as among the reasons wisdom is so sweet!).