Eating Honey

The production of honey has to be one of the coolest and most mind boggling processes on the planet.  Consider these facts:

A colony of up to 100,000 bees will visit over 2,000,000 flowers in 12 square miles and fly the equivalence of the earth’s circumference twice to produce one pound of honey.

A single honeybee will visit around 100 flowers in one trip, producing only about 1/12 teaspoonful in its short, 45-day life.

It takes the lifetime of almost 800 bees to produce one pound of honey, and each of us eats, on average, about one pound of honey each year. 

Honey is the product of watery nectar being eaten and regurgitated repeatedly by bees until it’s the right consistency and then fanned by bee wings until excess water is removed.

Honey doesn’t spoil. 

Honey is said to be the only food source that includes everything necessary for life.

Isn’t that cool!?  Okay, the part about eating bee vomit doesn’t sound that great, but there’s no doubt honey is great stuff.  Each delicious, sugary drop is the fruit of an unbelievable amount of labor.  Yet, it’s possible to pick up my amber honey bear from the cupboard, squeeze out its golden deliciousness onto my peanut butter topped cracker, and not even realize what a treasure, and what a cost, that treat represents. 

God’s word is like that.

The wisest man in the world knew the value of his honey, and the value of God’s wisdom and God’s word.  And he used the treasure of honey as a comparison for the value of God’s wisdom, the wisdom as set forth in His word.

My son, eat honey, for it is good, Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste; 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

So said Solomon.  Eat honey—it’s sweet to the taste and good for you.  And understand that as desirable as honey may be, wisdom is even more so. 

We take honey for granted today because we can go to any grocery store and buy a bottle off the shelf- all rich goodness to be had for a few dollars.  The fact that honey is easy for us to buy doesn’t mean it’s easy to make, not for the bees anyway!  And though we can mindlessly access the purest source of wisdom in the universe, picking up a Bible from our nightstand or bookshelf, or by bringing up a hundred different Bible versions on the web, that doesn’t mean the wisdom in the Bible was easily had, or easily preserved.

Consider:

God took over 1,500 years and over 40 human authors to produce the set of books we call “the Bible”.

The wisdom in the bible’s pages comes from the endless variety of the lives, geography, history, and experiences of immigrants and shepherds, kings and peasants, farmers and artists, Jews and Gentiles, old and young.

The preservation and propagation of the Bible has been the life work, and brought about the death, of many men.

The Bible represents the condensed wisdom of the ages.

There is no source of wisdom or knowledge on this good earth more pure than God’s word:

Psalm 12:6 The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.

Psalm 19:8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

God’s word is all we need for spiritual life:

2 Timothy 3:15 … from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

The wisdom in our Bibles nourishes and equips us for any and all good work:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

The next time you squeeze your honey bear, or drizzle honey off your spoon into your tea, or (best of all) cover your Jiff Extra Crunchy peanut butter-laden cracker with that delicious nectar— marvel at the miracle of time, distance, and lifetimes of labor that treat represents. Savor the moment and the miracle of that sweet delicacy.

And better, the next time you pick up your Bible– marvel— and give thanks, for the preservation of a body of wisdom and knowledge that restores the soul, makes the simple wise, brings joy to the heart, and enlightens our eyes (Psalm 19:7-9).   

Cheers!

More information on honey and honey bees:

http://www.ycbk.org/Honeybee%20Facts%20and%20Trivia.htm

http://www.captainjohnshoney.com/trivia.htm