“But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” Psalm 81:16

Psalm 81
God says and does things in the Old Testament to point us ahead to greater things He will do in the future. Sometimes He foreshadows a greater judgment, as He did through Sodom and Gomorrah. Sometimes He foretells a greater salvation, as in the blessings He attached to the land of Canaan.
In today’s psalm, God’s greater salvation is in view. We get a vivid picture of it when He describes the provisions of the land by promising honey from a rock.
Typically, we know the sweet pleasure of honey when it comes to us by way of a hive full of hardworking bees. But when God promises to satisfy His people with honey from a rock, He is promising, in addition to the blessings of this life, something more—something miraculous, extravagant, and otherworldly. “God brings sweetness out of what is harsh, forbidding, and wholly uncompromising” (Derek Kidner, 1913-2008).
Ultimately, we see this when God brings to us the sweet, extravagant, and otherworldly blessing of eternal life from the death of Jesus, the Rock of our salvation.



Scripture Focus

Psalm 81

Insight

Are God’s promises sweet to you? “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8).

Bible In A Year

  • Isaiah 9-10
  • Psalm 76
  • John 17

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