I once kept a beehive in our backyard. It was great fun watching with my children the antics of the drones and worker bees and on one momentous occasion, the queen. It was when I was in late pregnancy with my fourth child that I decided to check the super (the box that holds the frames) to see what was happening with our honey.
Somehow, with my large tummy in the way, I was a bit clumsy with the super and dropped it, rolling a few worker bees. The bees, now alarmed, woke from the smoke-induced stupor I had put them in.
En masse they decided that I was a threat and swarmed me mercilessly stinging me in places where I hadn’t realised there were gaps in my smoker suit. In that moment of time (and I still believe this) I decided that honey was cheap at any price.
The Bible tells us that honey is good for us and tastes good (especially NZ and Australian honeys!) but wisdom is similarly good for us. David’s son Solomon writes, “My son, eat honey because it is good, and the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste; So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; If you have found it, there is a prospect, And your hope will not be cut off. (Proverbs 24:13-14).
Honey was eaten for food in Israel by the likes of Samson, Jonathan and John the Baptist. It was considered a medicine and healing for many diseases. Some writers have even claimed that it prolonged life.
In the same way, living with godly wisdom not only sustains us in this present age but it also will lead to a wonderful future of unending life with the Lover of our souls. Wise living, then, means submission to God’s laws and living for eternal things.
And in the new heavens and the new earth that will shortly be set up, there will be abundance. The Promised Land in these new heavens and earth will truly be a land flowing with milk and honey.
(All quotes are from the NKJV).