It is very exciting for me that our family will be welcoming bees to our backyard this week as we embark on caring for our own hive. This is something that I have been researching and preparing to start for the last year. However, by January, I realized beekeeping was going to be one more thing I was going to need to shelf for another season simply because there was not time for it in our family’s schedule. Then came Coronavirus. My newly acquired free time has allowed me to pick this project back up, and if God wills, we may have honey this year.
Let me talk more about honey. If you have not read up on the miracle that is a honey bee I encourage you to do so. Nature is a beautiful glimpse into the sovereignty of God and His glory. I recently heard John Piper discuss the topic of technology vs taste. I thought to myself, “this is something that interests me, I am not a huge fan of technology, and I love to eat, tell me more John Piper.” He said something like this… the way we come to know the glory of God in scripture is similar to the way we know honey is honey. Science and technology may tell us a jar contains honey because of a set of chemical experiments, just like biblical scholars can make the very convincing argument that the Bible is historically reliable. But, most of us are not food scientists (save Lanier Lewis), yet we know honey is honey because we taste it, we experience it. How sweet Your word is to my taste- sweeter than honey in my mouth. Psalm 119:103 Similarly the divine sweetness of the glory of God is found in His message to us through the Bible, it grabs us. This is real seeing and tasting, not make believe. David calls us to try for ourselves. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him. Psalm 34:8.
I encourage you to read His word, to seek His truth out, and spend time being in awe of the glory of His creation. In the most uncertain season many of us have ever seen, place yourself upon The Rock that will not waiver. Seek Him as your refuge and resting place. When many of us have felt a loss of identity with changes in our roles at home and at work, use this time to read scripture, pray and ask God that you are granted confidence in your identity in Christ, who never changes despite the world around us constantly shifting. There is self-authenticating glory that shines from God’s word and gives us a well-grounded foundation for believing that the Bible is breathed by God. Tasting honey is much better than hearing about honey, and experiencing God, rather than passively agreeing in the existence of Him, is what He desires for us.
“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27
I hope to see you all soon, I will leave you with a quote from one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.
Well, I’m hangin’ on
To a solid rock
Made before the foundation of the world
And I won’t let go, and I can’t let go
Won’t let go and I can’t let go
Won’t let go and I can’t let go no more
For me, He was chastised, for me, He was hated
For me, he was rejected by a world that He created
Nations are angry, cursed are some
People are expecting a false peace to come
-Bob Dylan Solid Rock