06 March 2008 Devotion for Today "Honey from the Rock" Psalm 81

06 March 2008 Devotion for Today "Honey from the Rock" Psalm 81

From September 17, 2000: For several weeks our church building had in Germany had been besieged by a swarm of bees that have made their nests within the eaves of the building. One of the nests is right above the front entry-way. Thankfully, no one had been stung but they sure make a pesky sight. Many of them found their way into the church building. They created a distraction when I preached as people dodged and swatted. One such bee must have flown through a cob-web, but it didn't hold him down. He continued to fly around the sanctuary with a long strand of silky cob-web attached to his bee-hind!

I consulted the landlord on the matter. He said it is illegal to exterminate bees and insects unless they are taken care of professionally. The Feuerwehr,(fire department) he said, will dispose of them. So I called the Feuerwehr. The fireman took a look at where the bees are flying into in the building, shook his head, and said, "I can't do anything." When I asked why, he said that if the bees nests were hanging on the outside of the building and could be taken away intact, he would gladly do it. We had no recourse but to wait until the first frost, he said, and then all the bees will be gone. When I asked what would

happen if someone were to be stung, or if they suffered an allergic reaction, he glibly said, "Don't swat at them and they will leave you alone!" I was then told that if I wished for a professional to exterminate the bees I could do that, but it would be expensive and a very time- consuming beaurocratic hassel. Exterminators have to apply to the city government for permission and this could take up to three weeks. By then, he said, your bee problem will have taken care of itself.

I shook my head in amazement at the bee dilemma. But the fireman went on to explain that in Germany bees are protected. "Without them we would have no flowers, no fruit trees, no honey!" The honey industry in Germany is a very lucrative enterprise and they depend upon the bees for their livelihood. I suppose the fireman sold me on the importance of the bee by the sweet-sounding words in his mouth. It made me wonder if he had been sent to me by the German Bee-keepers

Association. But after the fireman left it occurred to me that just because the bees and hornets are a pest to me doesn't mean that God is not using them to provide for someone else.

Psalm 81 is a psalm of God's deliverance and provision. At times, however, Israel seems content to want none of what God can do for her. Desiring her own way, she has found herself destitute. But God continues to promise: "I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people will

not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels. Oh that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways." (verses 10-13). "He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with the honey from the rock I would have satisfied you."

What satisfies you today, my friend? Is it the things that your own counsels provide, or do you prefer the sweetness of the rock of God's provision? Taste today of the "honey from the rock." Have a blessed day!