Danny Fourie

One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet. Proverbs 27:7

In Israel honey was a noble product. People ate it as delicacy as well as for nutrition. John the Baptist lived on honey for years. Honey was a precious product.

In this verse there is also mention of honey. Contrary to what one would expect, the honey is not valued highly. The Amplified Bible puts it more directly: ‘He who is satiated loathes and treads underfoot a honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.’

What is going on here? Solomon describes a man who has had too much to eat, hopelessly too much. He is queasy from eating too much. Now he throws the precious honey on the ground and tramples on it. He does not even give it to someone else. What a sin!

We live in a time of prosperity. Formerly, many of us experienced times when there was often not prosperity but poverty. Now there is abundance. It will be worthwhile to do a study to investigate what was added to our tables in the course of one generation. Nowadays we have expensive dishes on many tables.

Do we have to despise all the blessings from God? Definitely not. We may receive it as a gift from God. We may be deeply thankful for it. But what may be the danger in this? That we may become like the man in the verse. The man who loathes and treads on the honey because he is satiated.

How much food goes to waste? Just in June 2017, there was an article in a newspaper about food wastage. Worldwide, nearly a third of all food is wasted, costing the world economy a staggering $940 billion per year. It is not because we are ungrateful for the food, but because it is never enough, and never good enough.

This does not only apply to food, but to our whole way of life. Our homes, our wardrobes and our leisure items. We can become so greedy that we get sick of it in the end. Then we have lost our measure of humanity like the man with the honey.

Prayer: Thank you Father for your caring love and all the gifts that you give us. Help us that we may not be accused of living extravagantly. Help us to maintain a healthy measure in our life.  Amen