Sweeter Than Honey

Wednesday - August11th

Scripture to Read Today: Psalm 119:97-104

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How sweet are your words to my taste,

sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Psalm 119:103

Lance and I loved walking or riding our bikes to Irma's Candy Story when we were kids. Think the mid-1970s, a hot summer afternoon in Indiana, and two ten-year-old boys with nothing to do. Lance was my best friend growing up. We were only a few months apart in age. Our families lived in two of three houses on a dead-end street in the outskirts of the city.

Inevitably our boredom on a hot afternoon sparked a desire to get some candy from Irma's. So we either rode our bikes or walked nearly two miles to the pink house on the corner deeper into our city of Mishawaka. Years before our visits, Irma had converted the front entrance of her home into a small candy store. She also sold sodas (or pop as it is called in my home state), ice cream, and a few toy-like trinkets.

Irma was a kind but no-nonsense widowed older woman with a cute little dog. Kids from several neighborhoods near her home flocked to her place. She had popular candies such as candy cigarettes, pop rocks, bottle caps, bubble gum, and all kinds of candy bars. None of her sweets were some off-brand or cheap imitation of the popular candies of the day.

I have joked, in recent years, that the Mishawaka Dental Association must have been the silent partners behind Irma's store. When Lance and I got inside, we often spent twenty to thirty minutes trying to decide how to use the collection of coins we brought with us. Everything in that place tasted so good!

Psalm 119 describes the sweetness God's Word brings into our lives. In verse 103, it says this: "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" In the ancient world, honey was the candy. It was considered the sweetest of life's sweets. The Psalmist declares God's Word to be sweet to his taste. He goes ever further, claiming the Scriptures to be "sweeter than honey." Nothing in the ancient world would be considered sweeter than honey. This is a clear and bold statement!

As we read the Bible, we should sense the sweetness of its words to our very souls. It provides joy, fulfillment, and contentment. So, as you read the passage listed above for today's Take5, taste that His Word is good. Take in the sweetness!

God's word is sweet - sweet like candy. We should enjoy it!