Today Daily Devotional

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
— Isaiah 43:19

When my son and I started beekeeping, we were especially keen on harvesting honey from our beehives. Minimizing our investment in equipment was also a goal. The solution was to use a primitive method of harvesting by scraping the honey-filled combs from our frames and draining the honey from the wax. Happy with the yield of honey, we wondered what to do with the pile of beeswax that resulted from this process.Beeswax itself is a treasure. Beekeepers and YouTubers supply loads of information about processing and using beeswax. The virtues of beeswax candles for home and worship are well known, for example. These all-natural candles are eco-friendly, smell like the fragrant outdoors, and are safe for air quality. Many fans also tout the benefits of beeswax as lip balm and for treating rashes and acne. Some people even claim that beeswax can help relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and lower cholesterol levels.Some of these benefits might be debatable, but in God’s creation we often learn that nothing need be wasted or thrown away. Similarly, with God, anyone can be rescued, refined, and repurposed. People facing judgment amid catastrophe needed to hear this in Isaiah’s day, and we also need to hear this wisdom today. God loves us and is with us always. He will deliver us and do new things in, with, and through us. 

Lord, thank you for telling us that we are chosen and loved by you. Guide us to face change and to embrace the new life you make possible for us through Jesus. Amen.

He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
— Ezekiel 3:3

My morning ritual includes a cup of tea mixed with apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of honey. I believe this bittersweet drink is good for digestion and fighting allergies. It seems also that a spoonful of honey may be good medicine that keeps my head clear.In Ezekiel’s time as a prophet, he received messages from God to warn his people of the coming destruction from Babylon. The messages were bittersweet and meant to prepare God’s people for a great disaster, the loss of their homeland and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Ezekiel’s words of prophecy were intended as medicine to purify and preserve God’s people.For too long these people had been mixing with other religions and eating at the tables of false gods. So they could not stomach the messages of this edible scroll, and they would not listen. Ezekiel was able to bring the messages because he had ingested, digested, and internalized the “sweet as honey” Word of God in his heart and mind. The Word of God sustained and energized him to speak the Lord’s message.God’s Spirit-breathed Word in the Bible, given and gathered over thousands of years, is true and bittersweet. What are you doing to ingest, digest, and internalize this Word? Is God’s Word purifying and energizing you so that his message can go out to others? 

Lord, protect us from the sickening messages of the toxic world around us. Plant your Word in our hearts. Rescue, purify, and use us to speak your words of life. Amen.

If you find honey, eat just enough—too much of it, and you will vomit.
— Proverbs 25:16

Late summer to early fall is usually the time when beekeepers “find” honey. At that time of year for bees, the days of gathering pollen and nectar are winding down. Wise beekeepers provide extra room in the hive, taking advantage of the bees’ hoarding instinct and “tricking” them into making more honey than they need. A healthy hive will often have two to three times as much honey as the bees will need for winter. The beekeepers then take the extra honey, making sure to leave enough for the bees to survive on.Finding honey is not so difficult with the hive boxes and removable frames we have today. In the wild, though, it can be a lot more challenging to find and gather this treasure. Through the centuries people have learned to search for honey in hollow trees, small caves, remote cliffs, and other protected spots that are near abundant varieties of flowering plants.While honey is sweet, our proverb for today tells us to “eat just enough” and not too much. It makes good sense not to overdose on honey—or on any of the sweet things in life. Wisdom calls us to a healthy balancing act.Sadly, the siren song of our world today is that “more is always better.” But finding honey reveals the wisdom of enjoying sweet things in life within wholesome limits.In what ways is the Spirit of God directing you to set wise limits in your life? 

Thank you, Lord, for the sweet things in life. Guide us to follow you and to gain a heart of wisdom. In Jesus, Amen.

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
— Psalm 119:103

Reading books to my children and grandchildren is one of my sweetest memories. And stories about Winnie the Pooh always make me chuckle:Isn’t it funny, How a bear likes honey? Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!Before we became beekeepers, my son and I took a class. At the outset, the instructor noted that most people get into beekeeping for the honey. This was a major goal for us as well. Honey’s reputation for sweetness is richly deserved. The flavor varies with the nectar and pollen gathered by the bees. People often say that eating local honey helps to combat allergies as well.Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, savors God’s Word in its many forms. The Word blossoms as God’s law, providing us with direction. It blooms in the shape of God’s judgments, which help us to learn right from wrong. God’s Word also flowers in his testimonies to inspire us to be faithful and true, like God.The most beautiful form of God’s Word was revealed when “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). This Word, Jesus Christ himself, is the whole package—all of God’s promises are fulfilled in him.May we all trust and love Jesus! Each day we can take in God’s Word like the sweetest honey. 

“Beautiful Savior! King of creation,” in all the pages of the precious Word of God, help us to see you, Jesus, as the one who leads us into everlasting life. In your name, Amen.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
— 1 Corinthians 13:4

Over the years, so much has been written about beekeeping that it can be easy to be distracted by details and lose sight of the “big picture.” With bees, it’s primarily about maintaining the hive, a living superorganism. Rev. L. L. Langstroth, who invented the movable frame hive (1852), recommended listening to the “hum” of the hive for inspiration. A quick internet search shows that lots of beekeepers compare the hum of the hive to a symphony.What makes the hive a harmonious home for bees? We might like to think that bees survive and thrive by way of virtues, but they just follow the wonderful instincts God provided when he created them.In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, we can see that the community life of Christ-followers is, sadly, not always loving and harmonious. In fact, sometimes the church is far from that ideal. A whole other dynamic is necessary for a community to become wholesome. Living by the virtues we find in 1 Corinthians 13 requires that we selflessly love one another.The inspired text of 1 Corinthians 13 reflects the self-giving love of God, in whose image Christ-followers are being recreated. In Christ, we can be part of a body in which all “have equal concern for each other” (12:25). The one body of Christ is the community in which each member lovingly works to build up and care for one another in the Lord, the one and only Savior.

Lord, thank you for being the way to faith, hope, and love. Grow us to become mature in you as each part of your body does its work. Amen.