Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro

Good Things Gone Wild - Proverbs 25:16

08/28/2012

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Have you found honey? Eat only what you need, That you not have it in excess and vomit it.   Proverbs 25:16
 
Overindulgence is something to be avoided in life.  Here we have an admonition to be careful when we find honey.  This most likely refers to wild honey that is found in the forest areas around Israel.  It would be much like the honey that Jonathan found after the battle with the Philistines in the forest.  The counsel is to eat only what you need of this honey.  The problem comes when our desire for something sweet and tasty goes beyond our stomach's ability to handle it.  Then we will have a reaction from being too full - and we will vomit due to having an excess.  But this proverb goes beyond a dietary warning and restriction.  It refers to the problem we all have with excess in any area of life.
 
Having good things is profitable to us.  It is when we allow these good things to go beyond where they should that good things become a problem - and possibly even an addiction.  Moderation is wise in just about every area of life.  To moderate ourselves makes us take time to consider what we really need.  Yet, because of the fall of man into sin, we are no longer wired for moderation.  We are wired for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life.  That kind of wiring can get us in serious trouble.  When we overindulge our desires - we can build that desire into something that we no longer control.  Our desires control us.  We see this in every kind of addiction.  The addict can no longer control their desires.  Their desires control them - and dominates them to the point of being able to command them what they WILL do.  This leads to an "out of control" lifestyle - which becomes horribly destructive to the one caught in it.  
 
The wisdom of God is to live life in moderation - especially when it comes to anything that flies in the "lust" zones of our lives.  What is good can become what is overdone.  When it reaches these levels it then can become that which makes us sick - sick in body, but also sick in our minds and our spirits as well.  Knowing this the wise man approaches all things with a desire that they remain under the control of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of Scripture.  This is how he avoids trouble that comes from fallen desires gone wild.
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Beautiful, Healing, Honey-Like Words - Proverbs 16:24

03/02/2012

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Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24

"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." That is a quote from my dearest mother - and from mothers for generations. My mom was not wanting me to refrain from saying the truth if it was hard - but she was wanting me to learn the principle behind today's proverb of the day. That proverb tells us the wonderful value of speaking pleasant words to others.

The word for "pleasant" here is the Hebrew word, "noam." This word means something beautiful, pleasant, and delightful. The word was used to speak of things that were sen or beheld that were of this nature. The word is used in Psalm 27:4 of the splendor of the Lord. It means to say something that creates delight in someone - yet the words do this because they are wise words as well. The word is also used figuratively of a shepherd's staff and the comfort that is brings to the sheep as it guides them in a good way.

When we speak these pleasant words, we are speaking of God's wisdom - but speaking it in a way that befits the term "honeycomb." We remember a former proverb that told us that more flies are caught with honey than with vinegar. The idea here is that a wise man speaks his words of wisdom - but does so remembering that a harsh word stirs up anger - but soft words can break a bone. Therefore he tries as often as possible to speak pleasant words as he offers the wisdom of God to others. We read here that these words are like a honeycomb. This presents a wonderful picture of nature for us - that points to the value of these pleasant words.

A honeycomb is a wonderful thing in the physical world. It is the place where bees store their honey when they work gathering nectar from flowers around them. They honeycomb was considered the nectar of the gods by the early Greeks because of all the healing properties that they found in it. First it is very healing to skin - even fuctioning as a wonderful antiseptic for skin wounds. It is also healing in that it has been found to have a tremendous amount of anti-oxidents within it. There is also an aspect of honey's usefulness that applies to allergies. In the early days of history people would chew on the honeycomb to help relieve severe allergies. Allergists today say that if we will get local honeycomb and chew on it one to two weeks prior to spring, our sinus and eye allergies would be greatly reduced.

The blessing here is to the soul and the bones of the body. The bones are the source of our blood supply - therefore were seen as the very life-force of the body. Therefore what we are told here is that we become such a blessing to others when we speak gracious and pleasant words to others. Such words will be a soul-healing thing to those who hear them. Just as honeycomb is healthy for our bodies - so beautiful words are to our souls.

Think with me for a moment or two of the majority of words that we hear in our world today. We are currently in an election cycle in our country. We cringe as we realize that once again we are going to be bombarded with the most negative statements made by each candidate about their opponents. The air is heavy with the negativity and the stench of character assassination. This seems to spill over into our world as just about everyone gets caught up - not in pleasant and beautiful words - but in the dark, evil, damaging words of the campaigns. It has gotten to where the two sides are so hateful to each other that there is no middle ground - or ways that we can even speak of the other side without incurring the wrath of someone thinking that we are selling out.

Let me encourage you in the midst of this time to do something to counter our culture. Do you very best to speak as many "pleasant" words as possible to one another. Take the time to notice something good about as many situations and circumstances as possible. Make it your goal to look for the pleasant every single day and speak of it glowingly. Do your utmost to find as much to say about the goodness and grace of God as possible. This way we can be a healing influence in a society that desperately needs a little good news that actually nourishes our souls!
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The Blessings of Being Hungry. Proverbs 27:7

06/27/2010

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A sated man loathes honey, But to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet. Proverbs 27:7

This proverb is about much more than just when a person likes and dislikes honey.  It is about hunger - first physical hunger as the physical meaning suggests - but it is about much more than just physical hunger.  It is about how we walk through life - about worldliness and about knowing and walking with God.

The physical picture painted for us is very clear.  When a man is sated he loathes honey.  To be sated means that you are stuffed.  This is like when you have eaten too much at a meal and you are miserable.  It wouldn't matter what someone offered you - you would not want any part of it.  This is why the man loathes something as sweet and enjoyable as honey.  He is too stuffed with food to enjoy anything.  The opposite is also true though.  A famished man considers any bitter thing sweet.  The famished man is truly hungry.  He has not eaten all day long - and as a result he is ready to eat anything.  Even something which others might consider bitter is sweet to him.  He will take it up and eat it grateful for anything to help him with his hunger. 

Beyond the physical picture shown to us are great spiritual truths for us to glean.  A man sated with the world will look at the Word of God and loathe it.  He is filled up with the daintes of the world and as a result has little or no spiritual hunger.  1 John tells us that everything in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life comes not from the Father, but from the world.  When we fill our hearts and souls with whatever our eyes desire, whatever our flesh demands, and with a heaping helping of boasting in this life - we will not have any desire for the Word, which is sweeter than the honey or the honey comb.  The glories of God and what He has in store for us seem like nothing when we are glutted with worldliness and selfish pursuits.  This is why it is so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  He is so filled with what "this world" has to offer - that often he has no room left for the things of God.  We need to see the danger of feasting on the world, the flesh, and the fast food of the devil.  When we do - we will despise and loathe the things of our Lord. 

Then there is the famished man.  The man who knows that the things of this world and this life are temporary.  They are fleeting pleasures - what the Bible calls lying desires.  They lie to us because they constantly promise fulfillment - but in the end they do not satisfy.  They don't provide contentment - they do just the opposite.  They eye is never filled with seeing - the flesh is never satisfied with food - and when we set our sights on wealth and riches, they take flight and soar to the heavens, always just a little beyond our ever grasping hands.  Knowing these things - he seeks God for his "daily" bread - and asks not for riches.  He knows that often the man with them forgets his God.  Thus he wants something more.  He has heard of this One Whose Spirit within is like a spring that rises up to heaven and salvation itself.  He has heard of One Whose bread of life actually fills.  He seeks the One Who offers rivers of living water - not a river outside of himself - but one that God puts within that overflows out of him to bless others.  He is a famished man when it comes to worldliness and sin.  He is a famished man when it comes to the religion of the eyes and flesh.  He knows that boasting in this life provides him nothing in the end.  Therefore he hungers and thirsts after God.  He has heard from One that blessed is he that hungers and thirsts for righteousness, for he will be satisfied. 

This hunger makes it to where any bitter thing is sweet to him.  Where the worldling is constantly receiving but is never satisfied, this one receives everything from the hand of God - good and bad - and it all works together for good in his heart and life.  Whereas the worldling ever complains that it is just not enough - the spiritually hungry one has eaten of contentment itself in the presence of God.  Having his spirit filled to overflowing - he knows that all that God allows in his life (whether sweet or bitter) is working on his behalf.  He even knows that the light and momentary discomforts, disappointments, disconcerting events - are working toward an eternal weight of glory that cannot be ascertained.  God is at work in this famished man's heart - thus any way that God's providence and sovereignty designs his circumstances are going to be satisfying for eternity. 

When you look at this proverb - and the truth that it represents - you come away with the paradox of God's work in this world.  The filled go away hungry - while the hungry are deeply satisfied.  The difference between seeking this world - and the world to come - is the difference between knowing contentment and fulfillment in hunger - or just walking through life empty even though you are sated with the world and all it offers.  Truly, blessed are the poor and destitute in spirit - for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
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