SWEETER THAN HONEY

“How sweet are thy words unto my taste”. Verse 103 is an exclamation of delight. Here is a man who knew his Bible, limited though it was, and it was out of the depths of his experience that he uttered these words. He not only read the Word, he fed upon it, and his verdict was “how sweet”. C. H. Spurgeon wrote, “God’s words are many and varied, and the whole of them make up what we call ‘the Word’. The psalmist loved them each one, individually, and the whole of them as a whole: he tasted an indescribable sweetness in them … He who put the sweetness into them had prepared the taste of His servant to discern and enjoy it”.

This is remarkable when we consider the experience of the writer as indicated in this psalm. He had been challenged and rebuked. He had known times of spiritual depression, as well as times of joy. In his varied experiences, he had been enabled to test and taste the Word. He made no distinction between promises and warnings, between doctrines and threatenings— they were sweet to his taste. Psalm 19. 10 also proclaims the Word of God to be “sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb”, and it is significant that in verse 11 David adds, “by them is thy servant warned”. We may also think of the words of the prophet Jeremiah, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart”. 15. 16.

In speaking of his own enjoyment of the Word of God, the writer speaks of his “taste”. He then goes on to say, “yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth”. Not “taste” now, but “mouth”, where speech comes from. He is now speaking of his utterance; not of receiving, but giving. How precious to note that what had been so sweet to him is now reflected in his speech to others. What comes forth is sweetened by what he had digested.

“O teach me Lord, that I may teach the precious things thou dost impart”, wrote F. R. Havergal. In the N.T. we read, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”, Matt. 12. 34; “Let you speech be alway with grace”, Col. 4. 6. And for our perfect Example, “all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth”, Luke 4. 22, because He delighted in feeding on His Father’s Word.