How sweet are your words to my taste,

    sweeter than honey to my mouth!

-Psalm 119:103

If you read all one hundred seventy-six verses of Psalm 119, you’ll find a series of stanzas describing the goodness of God’s words and laws. The psalmist doesn’t just settle for an impersonal description of how good God’s word is, however. This psalm is intimate. Not just “your word is a treasure” but “I treasure your word in my heart” (v. 11). Not “people should love your law” but “I love your law” (v. 97). Not “you comfort the distressed” but “this is my comfort in my distress, that your promise gives me life” (v. 50).

Psalm 119 gives the impression of a poet who knows what it is to be lost, afraid, hopeless, betrayed, exhausted, overwhelmed– and what it is to be guided, protected, encouraged, refreshed, blessed. In other words, the psalmist knows what it is to be a disciple. The psalmist doesn’t expect that following God’s law or meditating on God’s word will prevent all the hard times and troubles. They simply express what they have found to be true– that God’s word is a good word, a delight and a blessing all on its own accord.

I thought of the words of this psalm last weekend. I was baking, and the bread I was making called for honey. The previous week, I had attended a few days of continuing education on the topic of preaching. One of the organizers of the event gave each participant a small goody bag, including a small bottle of local honey. When I realized I needed honey, I went straight to that little glass bottle.

There wasn’t all that much honey required, just a few tablespoons mixed together with chopped pears and walnuts and bleu cheese, which was then worked through the bread. I took a drop of the honey on a spoon for myself, too. Mmm. Sweet, with that kind of richness that sugar alone cannot provide. Mixed in through the bread along with the other ingredients, that honey enriched the whole loaf. It enhanced the pears, softened the bleu cheese, and complimented the walnuts. It was there in each bite. Sweet.

God speaks sweet words to us, God’s people. The psalmist knew it, too: God’s word is sweet. Not sweet nothings that are uttered and forgotten, but sweet somethings that nourish and delight. God speaks words to guide and correct, to direct and encourage, and above all, God speaks the sweetest Word: Jesus Christ is for you. His love, his life, his light: they are for you. Jesus is just as sweet as honey.

I’ll remember that each time I reach for my little jar of honey. Sweet as it is, God’s word is sweeter still.