Sweeter Than Honey

The sweet tooth. The stuff my nightmares are made of. I sometimes wonder if the sweet tooth is just a myth. When I’m caught in the throes of craving I don’t want apple juice, cranberries, or peaches. All are sweet. On no. I want candy, cake, and ice cream. This lends itself to the concept of a fat tooth. I may have a full set.

When I was growing up my family was introduced to artificial sweeteners. Refined white sugar became to root of all dietary evil. White packets were replaced with pink and blue whenever possible. It wasn’t logical that a tiny poof of powder would have the same gratifying abilities as a quantity of sugar four times in volume. But here was the miracle before me. In recent years I’ve given up artificial sweeteners in favor of brown packets or raw honey. Studies have shown the chemicals in the artificial sweeteners can do even more harm than refined white sugar. Science like this is why I’d like to have a sweet tooth extraction.

One product I’ve always enjoyed is honey. Here’s a tip: find an apiary within ten miles of your house. The raw honey will contain all the pollens you’re breathing. It’s a good way to naturally help ease into allergy season. I have a spoonful of raw honey straight from the jar every morning. It’s gritty and thick and has a distinct floral heaviness. One false move with a spoon though and it’s everywhere. Another tip: hot water cleans honey up faster than cold water. It makes me wonder how Samson ever managed to get clean.

Judges 14 in my Bible is titled “Samson’s Marriage”. It would better be titled “Samson’s Wedding Debacle”. There’s a lot that can be inferred from the text and a lot of it does not speak well of Samson. He stops at a vineyard while his parents continue to Timnah to get his bride. He kills a lion with his bare hands and keeps it secret. On his return trip to his future wife, he goes back to the vineyard and sees the dead lion. A swarm of bees has created a hive with honey in the carcass. Samson scoops it out with his bare hands and gives some to his parents. All of them eat but only Samson knows the source.

The feast Samson prepares is a “mishteh” which is a feast that especially includes alcohol. Sure enough, 30 good old boys show up to help their buddy celebrate accordingly. Samson decides to make a show of his intellect and poses a riddle to them. Bilbo Baggins would have been proud. It isn’t a chicken crossing the road riddle but a life circumstance riddle the guests couldn’t possibly understand. What’s in his pocketses? Honey. Ironically Timnah means restraint. Samson had none. I’ve wondered if some of that honey was featured in his feast.

At the end of Judges 15 Samson is once again a single guy. Enter Delilah. From honey to Honey. Their relationship ends with his hair on the floor and Samson unaware the Lord has left him. I have questions. I’ve shaved my head and it’s a scalp tingling experience. How drunk was Samson to not feel his dreadlocks being removed? How hungover was he to not realize he was bald? How murky minded must one be to not realize the weight of hair is gone let alone the weight of the Lord’s presence?

Samson with his Nazarite hair had a natural connection to the Spirit of the Lord. There are three mentions where that link enabled Samson to perform miraculous feats of strength and heroism. Unfortunately, there are seven occasions of strength and heroism without the Spirit of the Lord. Samson had manipulated and artificial experience of the Spirit. Too often modern Christians settle for a counterfeit spirit. It’s as if we can’t handle the weight of a true relationship.

Granted, the consecration of Solomon’s temple would back that up. 1 Kings 8:10-11 says that, “the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” In Gethsemane Jesus says, “I AM!” and everyone draws back and falls to the ground. It is a common reaction to divine revelation. And yet Psalms 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Proverbs 25:2 reads, ” It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search things out.” Where does all of this go?

Because of our fallen state we can not stand in the full glory of God. This is not an excuse to sit idly. This is not a challenge to go where we shouldn’t. If Samson had not turned aside to the vineyard and killed the lion, there would have been no riddle. Only the shed blood of Christ on the cross enables us to come boldly to the throne of grace. Not arrogantly like Samson. Proverbs 25:27 says, “It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.” Samson would have been better off if he had followed that advice. God can still use us even when we have an artificial response. If we keep it real though, we can get a 10 out of 10, not a 3 out of 10, through obedience to the Holy Spirit.

Over time the blue and pink packets have been joined by yellow and green. Artifice abounds. It may be easier to carry the lightweight sweetness but the believer is to pursue the genuine relationship. The glory of God maybe heavy but it isn’t our to carry-simply seek. What we do carry is the yoke of Christ and we share that with the Holy Spirit. It feels like a spiritual paradox.

The Christian craving should be for the natural things of God. And when the Spirit of the Lord is with us it is supernatural. I shouldn’t just have a scripture sweet tooth but a famine faced desire for immersion in the Spirit’s sugar bowl. Society dresses up, covers up, and glows up then demands us to keep it real. There is only one way to do this and it’s not what 95% of the church is serving up. What is sweeter than honey? The genuine presence of the Lord. No artificial sweeteners added.