As this goes out, it is January 1st, 2025 so let me be one of the first to wish you a Happy New Year! The excitement and expectation that always surrounds a new year is never lost on me. I anticipate the turning of the calendar and sometimes even the last quarter or so of the previous year is spent in planning and preparation for what lies ahead. When September or October rolls around, I’m already starting to think about the coming year. Perhaps that mindset is something you have as well.
Now we know the Lord’s calendar and timetable is different from our own. He is not bound by time and just because we commit to restarts and resolutions in January does not mean He is doing something different as He rules over it all. BUT…I believe He honors the choices and commitments we make in the new year; especially when it brings Him glory.
As we begin, I want to share a verse that struck me as I was considering what message to bring in this first month of 2025:
But He would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you. Psalm 81:16
I was reading Psalm 81, not realizing that I would stumble upon this verse which concludes the Psalm. It is a Psalm that takes what I would call an “If, then” type of theme. More or less, it is God saying “If you will do this…then I will do that”. I hope that make sense. If you read the whole Psalm, you find God is looking for Israel to simply do a couple of things: listen to His voice and put away foreign gods. If the people would do these things, then God would bring blessings. Blessings which conclude with this phrase and concept: honey from the rock.
I believe as we step into 2025 we have the opportunity to obey the Lord’s voice and not miss out on His promises. In a spiritual sense, we can examine and identify what honey from the rock looks like in our lives and this blog seeks to go further down that path. If we are willing to lay aside our “gods” and anything that gets in the way of our relationship with the Lord, He will honor and bless us. Ultimately, we are not seeking the blessing itself, but the relationship with our Maker and our King. My prayer is that this message helps guide you into this new year and helps you focus on what truly matters as we begin these next 12 months. Let’s dive in once again!
1.Honey from the rock signifies God’s blessings and abundance
I am the LORD your God, Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. Psalm 81:10
Psalm 81 begins with a posture of praise: “Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!” (vs. 1). This posture then pivots to recount what God had done for Israel: He delivered them from Egypt; out of slavery and bondage. As the Psalm continues, we realize that somewhere along the line the nation fell into disobedience. It stopped listening to the Lord (in fact, my ESV Bible titles this Psalm: Oh, That My People Would Listen To Me). But the concluding verses bring us back to what we experience if we do choose to listen: He brings us abundant blessings.
This honey in the rock concept is unique and only appears a couple of times in Scripture (here in Psalm 81 and also in Deuteronomy 32:12,13). There are many applications we can derive, but from first glance we surmise the honey is God’s blessing, His abundance, and His provision (supernaturally and Divine). These things appear especially in adversity as we acknowledge Israel was able to find honey in an unlikely place: a rock. It was somewhere unexpected but apparently, a spot where bees would form honeycombs. What does this mean for us? The honey is available if we are in Christ and following Him; if we are listening to His voice. This leads right into the next point.
2.These gifts are conditional
O Israel, if you would but listen to Me! There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. Psalm 81:8,9
“But My people did not listen to My voice; Israel would not submit to Me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.” Psalm 81:11,12
The “If, then” overall theme of Psalm 81 readily stands out in several verses like these. It is tragic that Israel, after being shown such a great salvation at the Red Sea, would then fall into disobedience and betrayal of the Lord. Asaph, the temple choirmaster to whom this Psalm is attributed, was a contemporary of King David. He longed for the people to come and worship and follow their God. Sadly the nation had chosen foreign gods as alternatives to the God and they closed their ears off to His voice. In response, God gave them over to their own desires; “to follow their own counsels.”
This is a scary place for any of us to find ourselves and this Psalm should serve as a warning as much as anything else. Be obedient to the Lord. Serve Him. Trust Him. Do not be like those who have gone before and followed their own selfish ways. God has rewards and blessings (i.e. honey) but He will not give them to those who are out of His will. As we enter 2025, we must remember that the goodness of His hand comes from seeking not just what He can do for us, but seeking Him alone. Israel would have been blessed, protected from enemies, and had their needs satisfied…if they had followed the Lord.
3.Ultimately the blessing points us to Christ
And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you. Psalm 81:16
Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him to come Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37,38
We can’t fully have this discussion on “honey from the rock” without correlating it to the New Testament and to Jesus Himself. The blessing we miss out on if we are not in obedience to the Lord is Jesus. One commentary (Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible) put it this way:
The rock spiritually and mystically designs Christ, the Rock of salvation, the honey out of the rock, the fullness of grace in Him, and the blessings of it, the sure mercies of David, and the precious promises of the everlasting covenant; and the Gospel, which is sweeter than the honey or the honeycomb.
To summarize, the Rock is Christ and the honey represents salvation and grace imparted by Him. When we taste of the honey or drink of the living water, we are tasting and receiving Christ. We are then living in His will; receiving all the benefits and rights as heirs and children of God. This tasting comes upon our confession of sin and belief in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection; components necessary and essential to the Gospel.
What Asaph’s audience missed and what we can as well, is that this is not a one-and-done relationship. Just because Israel was delivered and followed God out of Egypt didn’t mean that every blessing was just passed down automatically. In a sense, yes the blessing was passed down and was made available. But it had to be received as well. We understand this as we just celebrated the birth of Jesus through the Christmas season. He came into this world. Many received Him, but many did not.
Coming back full circle, what does it look like to examine this message and passage through the lens of a new year? For me, it means taking an inventory of my relationship with the Lord. How well am I listening to His voice? Am I in His word regularly and in prayer? Are there foreign gods that I’ve allowed into my life? Can I identify anything that blocks my ability to hear from Him and understand where He is leading? If I can do this…if we can do this, then we will begin 2025 on the right foot and position ourselves to be where we need to be.
The blessings are not the focus of this relationship but I want to remind you of what you lay hold of if you taste the honey He offers (again from Psalm 81):
- He will satisfy your needs (vs. 10)
- He will subdue the enemy and be against your foes (vs. 14)
- He will give you His best — the finest wheat and honey from the rock (vs. 16)
Although not our end goal and aim in pursuing Christ, these things are the by-products that come along with being under His care. We need not turn to lesser things out of fear or lack of trust. He goes before us into 2025 and He will be there at the end. Let’s taste of the honey from the rock! Let us receive His goodness!
I love you guys and love walking this journey with you.
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Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5:15-17
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