Honey From A Rock

September 21, 2014
Honey From A Rock
Psalm 81                        NOTES NOT EDITED

SIS – You can discover the sweetness of God’s blessings even in a hard place.

People debate whether the Bible is God's Word, or just a quaint literary work from antiquity. Proofs of the Bible's uniqueness and divine foundations have been given since God delivered His Word to Israel millennia ago. The debates will go on.  But, you can debate the Bible until the cows come home and still never have milk for your morning cereal. We have to learn how to apply the principles of God's Word to daily living as resources for joy and blessing. God's Word is a tool. At first glance, “honey from a rock” appears to be impossible, but in fact, it was quite common in the ancient world, and even many places today. Sweet blessings are yours for the gathering.

The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"  One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!"  To which the king replied, "No, this is not good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail.  About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.  As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.  As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.  "You were right," he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. "And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this." "No," his friend replied, "This is good!" "What do you mean, ’This is good’? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?" "If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you."

In our modern mind we do not associate “honey” with a “rock” but with a hive in a tree.  Sweetness from a hard place seems improbable at best, impossible at worst.  Yet, “honey from a rock” was a common site in the ancient Middle East, and in many places today.  A hard place is no barrier to God’s sweet blessings in life, we use God’s resources to gather His blessings.  In Psalm 81, God gives us four ways in which we can extract honey from the hard places of life.

Let’s read our text together.  Psalm 81:1; 10-16

1. SINGING is a resource for getting “Honey From a Rock” (1-3)

¹ Sing for joy to God our strength; shout in triumph to the God of Jacob. ² Lift up a song—play the tambourine, the melodious lyre, and the harp. ³ Blow the horn on the day of our feasts during the new moon and during the full moon.

The reference to music in these three verses is emphatic. Various words are used to focus attention on the importance of singing in particular, and music in general.  Instruments are mentioned: the lyre (ancient Fender Strat), the harp the trumpet.  Various forms of vocalization are used from a “ringing cry” (ranan,v1a); to “a war cry” (rua, v.1b); to “lift a song” (seu zimra, v2a).  This by no mean exhausts all the vocalizations that Hebrew worship involved.  The worship of God has always been a raucous, energetic affair as you see in movies such as Fiddler On the Roof.  A non-singing Christian is an oxymoron.  The emphasis is not on how well you harmonize but how enthusiastically you vocalize.  I root a praise song based upon Psalm 150 years ago.  The first verse goes like this:

Praise Him with your trumpet // Praise Him with your harp
Praise Him with timbrel and dance.

These words come right out of the KJV.  But, then I added:

But if all you can do is shout//Shout Loud for His glory!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

That phrase comes from Luke 19:40 where Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for trying to silence the disciples praising Jesus as He made His Triumphal entry into Jerusalem on what we now call, Palm Sunday.  Jesus said,

“I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out!”

A soul touched by the tender Hand of God’s Mercy and having received the blessed gift of God’s Holy Spirit in salvation cannot help but “sing, shout, or praise God” with water ever faculties that soul possesses.  A non-singing soul is a soul without a melody of forgiveness from the strumming of God’s grace upon the heart strings.

At 6 weeks of age Fanny Crosby developed a minor eye inflammation and was taken to a local doctor for treatment. However, the doctor who treated her used the wrong medicine on her eyes and she became totally and permanently blind because of his carelessness.

Interviewed years later, Fanny Crosby said she harbored no bitterness against the physician. In fact, she once said, "If I could meet him now, I would say thank you, over and over again for making me blind." She felt that her blindness was a gift from God to help her write the hymns that flowed from her pen.

How could Fanny Crosby, blinded by a tragic failure of a careless doctor –still be filled with such joy and power in her songs?  She kept her heart focused on God. She looked up toward God rather than around at her disability and weaknesses (copied).  From the hard place of blindness she saw the sweetness of God’s glory and penned these words in addition to over 8000 other hymns and songs:

To God be the glory, great things He hath done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Singing and music are tremendous resources in gathering “honey from the hard places of life.”

2.  SERMONS are another way to gather “honey from a rock”

Verses 4-7 tell us:  ⁴ For this is a statute for Israel, a judgment of the God of Jacob. ⁵ He set it up as an ordinance for Joseph when He went throughout the land of Egypt. I heard an unfamiliar language: ⁶ “I relieved his shoulder from the burden; his hands were freed from carrying the basket. ⁷ You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

Two important words show up in this passage:  statute and ordinance.  They are synonyms referring to a “an obligation or rule; something prescribed or established.” In simple terms:  God’s requirements.  Now, modern Americans steeped in an attitude of rugged individualism and freedom react to any kind of “control,” especially in regard to religion.  That is human nature such as it is.  False religions put too much emphasis on control, rules, or what we might call “works of righteousness to gain favor with God.”  The Bible teaches us that we cannot “do” anything to gain the favor of God in salvation.  It is a gift.  Let me remind us of Paul’s admonition in this regard (Eph. 2:8):

⁸ For you are saved by grace  through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— ⁹ not from works.

God’s Word, the Bible knows of only one pathway to salvation and favor with God—receive the free gift that He has provided.  You need do nothing to receive salvation—in fact, you cannot do anything to receive it.  It is a gift.

That, however, does not end our commerce with God.  God does have expectations for those He saved.  God does have statutes and ordinances for us to follow.  Here, we find the relevance of sermons.  God calls those He chooses to speak forth to His people the statutes and ordinances He, Himself, has established. 

The occupation of the prophet, preacher, or whatever term one might use to describe the one called to expound God’s Word, is exactly that:  “preach the Word!” The task of God’s messenger is not to entertain.  Many will be surprised that the task of the preacher is not primarily to encourage, though that is a part to be sure.  And, certainly the task of the preacher is not to “keep everybody happy!”  Paul tells us why God sets aside leaders in the body (Eph. 4:11-13):

¹¹ And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹² for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son,  growing into a mature man with a stature  measured by Christ’s fullness.

Just the other day I received word through someone that a person was no longer going to attend our church (though they only showed up occasionally anyway) because they, “did not like my preaching!”  Now, this would be discouraging to be sure if, in fact, my goal was to get you all to like me—BUT, my goal is not to get you to like me, but get you to FALL IN LOVE with Jesus!  My goal in preaching is to give you resources for gathering “honey” even from the “hardest” places in life.  If along the way I entertain a bit, then may God be glorified.  If along the way I can encourage you in your difficult places then, may God be glorified.  But God help us if I ever lose sight of the fact that God’s messengers are to declare the statutes and ordinances of God.

Notice again verse 7:  You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

Meribah means “place of strife or testing” referring to two incidences in which God’s people found themselves in a hard place with no water (Ex. 17; Num. 20).  How did God bring sweetness from the bitter waters of Meribah?  He spoke from a thundercloud!  Now, I understand that God can speak from a whisper as well as a shout, but I think when all hell is breaking out around us and the arsenal of the Devil is exploding in chaos and confusion, we need the preacher to “shout with the roar of thunder” showing us which way to go! 

I’ve said it before.  I have said it many times over the years.  I would not walk across the street to hear me preach, let alone get up early on a Sunday morning.  You don’t need to hear what I have to say.  You need to hear what God has to say.  I don’t give speeches.  I preach sermons.  And, if God was able to get His message to Balaam by the mouth of Balaam’s donkey (Num. 22), then there is no doubt God can speak through men like me!  If you don’t believe that, sermons are a waste of your time—and mine.  Look at verse 8:

⁸ Listen, My people, and I will admonish you. Israel, if you would only listen to Me!

I’ll say more about this verse in a minute or two, but the Psalmist has assumed the role of the Preacher and admonishes us, through this recorded Scripture:  “Listen.”  Sermons are a powerful resources for gather “honey from a hard place” in life.

3.  SEPARATING is another resources for gathering honey (9)

If one does not read carefully one might completely run by the resource tucked away in verse 9:

⁹ There must not be a strange god among you; you must not bow down to a foreign god.

The First Commandment sets forth God’s claim for complete and exclusive worship.  “Do not have other gods besides Me!”

Paul declares the necessity for separating ourselves from the world in 2Cor. 6:17:  ¹⁷ Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you.

The idea of “sanctification,” or “being set aside for the exclusive use and pleasure of God,” is taught throughout Scripture.  The Tabernacle which stood in the center of the camp for the Israelites as they wandered in the desert was a life-sized visual aid teaching sanctification—or, “being set aside for the exclusive use and pleasure of God.”  Sanctification means the process of becoming holy.  The Bible tells us this about the tabernacle (Num 7:1):

And [it came to pass] on the day that Moses had fully [set up]  the tabernacle, and had anointed  it, and sanctified  it, and  all the instruments thereof, both  the altar and  all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them, and sanctified  them.

The KJV maintains the more theological term, sanctified, where some modern versions use, consecrated.  The meaning is the same.  We must live in the world, of necessity.  We must intermingle with lost people and engage in the market place because of our call to love and reach the lost.  We must be with them, but we must not be like them. 

Listen to me:  we cannot watch the same worldly shows lost people watch; spend time in the same dives and drunken party places that lost people do; read the same books and magazines of lost people; or waste our money on the same trivial pursuits that lost people do, and think that somehow we are “setting ourselves aside for the exclusive use and pleasure of God.”  A worldly life does not reflect a godly heart.  We need to know where to draw the line of separation.  The purer we live our lives, the sweeter our lives are going to be. 

Years ago a popular gospel song went like this:

Every day with Jesus //  Is sweeter than the day before
Every day with Jesus // I love Him more and more.
Jesus is my Savior // He’s the One I’m living for
Every day with Jesus // Is sweeter than the day before.

A SEPARATED life is a sweet life.  I could say much more about this but we have yet another resource for gather “Honey From a Rock.”

4.  SERVING (8; 11-15)

⁸ Listen, My people, and I will admonish you.

Israel, if you would only listen to Me!  Then, 11-15:

……………………………….

¹¹ “But My people did not listen to Me; Israel did not obey Me. ¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own plans. ¹³ If only My people would listen to Me and Israel would follow My ways, ¹⁴ I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes.” ¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would pretend submission to Him; their doom would last forever.

“Listen; listen; listen; listen!”  Four times in these verses God uses a form of the Hebrew “shema,” translated “listen, or hear.”  Immediately a Hebrew’s mind would harken back to the most important verse in the Old Testament—Dueteronomy 6:4-9:

“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.  ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  ⁶ These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.  ⁷ Repeat them to your children.  Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.  ⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Shemah Yisrael!  “Hear, listen, harken, obey!” That is the meaning of the word translated, “listen.”  It does not merely represent the event of sound waves striking the ear drum.  It does not even mean simply understanding what is being heard.  “Shemah” carries the weight of obedience in response to what is heard.  Real hearing of God’s Word is reflected in OBEDIENT SERVICE to the Lord through His church.

Remember how I said that a “non-singing Christian” is an oxymoron—two or more words put together that our opposites or absurdities, like Simon and Garfunkel’s song, “The Sound of Silence.”  Well, not only is a non-singing Christian an oxymoron, but a non-serving Christian is an oxymoron.  Many people think that getting saved is like a “fire insurance policy.”  Once you accept Jesus Christ you are forever free from the fires of hell.  That is certainly true, but that is not “all the truth.”  Getting saved is more like a “work permit.”  When you get saved you are sets His spirit inside so you can be set aside for His service.  Paul says it like this in the verses following those I already read from Ephesians 2:8-9.  It goes on to say: ⁸ For you are saved by grace  through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— ⁹ not from works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are His creation, created  in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time  so that we should walk in them.

We were not saved merely to go to heaven.  We are saved to go back into the world and “DO GOOD WORKS!”  If you a church member without a place of regular service you are not a “freedom fighter in the battle for souls,” but you are “freeloader on the freedom train.”  God doesn’t save us to sit and soak up His blessings.  He saved us to serve others.  It is wholly insufficient to say you have “Heard the Word of the Lord” if you are not actively engaged in the “Work” of the Lord!  Something is wrong with the mix of your life.  There will be no sweetness of God’s blessings for the person who is not SERVING others.  SERVING is a tremendous resource for gathering “honey even from the hardest places of life.” 

Christianity is not a “cruise ship but a battleship.”  On a cruise ship, the passengers are served.  On a battleship, every member has a place of service.  The sweet life does not come from sitting and soaking up blessings on a cruise ship.  The really sweet blessings of life, come from hard, sacrificial service on God’s battleship.  Perhaps a story I read this week will help us understand.

There once was a not so bright fellow who saw an advertisement for a cruise. The sign in the travel agency window read “Cruise -- $100 Cash.” I’ve got a hundred dollars, he thought. And I’d like to go on a cruise. So he entered the door and announced his desires. The fellow at the desk asked for the money, and the not-too-bright guy started counting it out. When he got to one hundred, he was whacked over the head and knocked out cold. He woke up in a barrel floating down a river. Another sucker in another barrel floated past and asked him, “Say, do they serve lunch on this cruise?” The not-too-bright fellow answered, “They didn’t last year.” It’s one thing to “hear a message,” it is quite another to understand and apply that message properly.

God does not want us to keep getting knocked over the head searching for blessings.  The sweet blessings of God are available for any who will use God’s resource for gathering them.  “Honey From a Rock” is no problem for God.  It’s there for the taking.

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