Pill in the Peanut Butter

(Proverbs 24:13-14) My son, eat honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate; so shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; when you have found it, then there shall be a reward, and your hope shall not be cut off. 

There are two important lessons to this verse that I want to focus on. The first lesson has to do with us getting knowledge and wisdom. The second lesson has to do with our health.  Apparently, the psalmist thought that honey was important enough in both cases to talk about.

At first it seemed that the subject of knowledge and health were poles apart … but are they? Perhaps what the psalmist is trying to say is that true knowledge is a medicine that feeds our health, and true health can be the result of true knowledge. In other words, both should work together as one.

According to some theologians, (such as John Gill), there is a medicinal value in honey that nourishes and strengthens us like no other food. This was certainly the case with Samson, Jonathan and John the Baptist as they ate honey.

It is also my understanding that honey helps prolong our life by protecting us from diseases. If that is true, then we would have to conclude that there really is something hidden in honey that is good for our health.

My family and I had two little dogs, (Baxter and Bonnie), who grew old and were not in the best of health. The veterinarian gave us some pills to give them in order to keep them as healthy and comfortable as possible. The problem was, they hated the pills and would spit them out. We finely decided to hide their pills in peanut butter and they would swallow them and never know the difference. From then on, we did the old hide the pill in the peanut butter trick, and everyone was happy.

I wonder if sometimes God has to do the same thing with us. He puts what we need into what we are able to swallow, kind-of-like the medicine in the honey. The reason my family and I put the pill in the peanut butter for Baxter and Bonnie was because we loved them. God would do any less for us.

Father:

Thank You for loving us enough to hide what we need in what we are able to swallow. Growing and stretching in You is not always easy but our desire is to get spiritual knowledge and wisdom. Make our life lessons (medicine), sweet to the taste, like honeycomb is sweet to our palate.

Amen

P