Honeysweet and just as enduring
If I were choosing adjectives to describe the word “law,” I would be inclined to choose words like “binding” or “restrictive,” because laws are not usually among our favorite things. In fact, in our current climate, laws and rules are viewed by many as infringing on personal freedom or cramping one’s style, yet in Scripture, God’s law — or what we commonly refer to as the Ten Commandments — is described as perfect: a law that revives the soul and causes the human heart to rejoice.
This portrayal of God’s law found in Psalm 19 begins with a description of the glory and magnificence of God’s creation and transitions smoothly into spelling out the merits of God’s beautiful law. “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes.” The psalmist goes on to describe God’s ordinances as being sweeter than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. At first glance, that seems a rather odd comparison, yet a closer look reveals how spot on that comparison is.
Honey, often referred to as the perfect natural sweetener, possesses amazing healing qualities, and when kept in a sealed container, never spoils. How do we know that? When pots of honey found in Egyptian tombs dating back thousands of years were pried open, to the surprise of the archeologists who unearthed these pots, the honey inside was perfectly sweet and edible. This is due, in large part, to the chemical makeup of honey, as well as to the important role bees play in the process of creating the sweet delicacy. Honey in its raw form may crystalize and change form, but it will not go bad.
Not unlike the honey it is likened to, God’s law endures forever and remains forever sweet. It has no expiration date, making it always relevant and always applicable. When God’s law is understood rightly and embraced willingly, it sets us free to live fully, all the while taking into consideration the well-being of the neighbor God has called us to love. God’s law is beautiful because, when claimed and lived with intentionality, it unleashes within us an openness that is the opposite of binding or restrictive. The boundaries set by God’s law are not unlike the boundaries set by loving parents, longing for their children to navigate the bumpy roads of life in ways that allow them to realize their God-given potential.
When people of faith are asked if they seek to live by God’s law, or the Ten Commandments, the response is almost always a resounding “Yes!” Sadly, when asked if they can recite all ten of the commandments, most cannot. Jesus seemed to know we would struggle to remember the laws that were intended to define our relationship with God and our relationships with one another, so chose to summarize those ten commandments into two: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Although Jesus perfectly summed up the Ten Commandments, I believe it is still important for us to study them carefully and learn them by heart, knowing that they provide a necessary and gracious road map for our journey with God and one another during our lives here on earth. Seeking to understand their intent rather than simply memorizing the words, or demanding they be inscribed on public buildings, better enables us to live by them each day. With our work cut out for us, my prayer is that we will choose to take this work seriously, remembering that it is best accomplished when carried out in community and that the God who gave us these laws desires to help us keep them. Now that is truly sweet!