Proverbs 25:16
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Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
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Honey and honeycomb are good and pleasant (16:24; 24:13). See the comments on 16:24. Honey is not forbidden; it is a gift from God. Let us be thankful. But too much is not good (25:27). How can something so good make you vomit? By proving the definition of excess! Excess, which is too much, shows that good things have limited uses. The lesson is to use them as is sufficient, to their intended purpose, and not beyond.
The Lord gave us richly all things to enjoy (I Tim 6:17), but all of them should be used in moderation (Phil 4:5). And He is not watching from a distance to see how we treat His gifts, as many wish; the Lord is at hand. He made man upright and gave him numerous gifts, but he has sought out many inventions (Eccl 7:29). And one of these is excess!
We live in a generation given to excess - it is one of their idols. They are proud of being X-treme! Saints will be careful to avoid the immoderation on every side. God's innocent gifts of food and drink have been corrupted to the destruction of souls; surfeiting, or gluttony, and drunkenness are overcharging, not stomachs only, but also hearts (Luke 21:34). Young men gorge until they vomit; drunkards do the same and then sleep in it.
The wisdom in our proverb is primarily moral and spiritual, yet it contains a nutritional hint. Honey and other simple or refined carbohydrates are a principal cause of obesity and other maladies affecting our nation's health. With prosperity supplying an endless variety and amount of sugar and carbohydrates, an excessive society can gorge often!
Consider other pleasant gifts of God to grasp the lesson. God gave bread to make hearts strong (Ps 104:15): but overeating bread, cereal, pasta, cookies, cake, chips, crackers, and other grain products destroys the heart. God gave wine to make our hearts glad (Ps 104:15): but drunkenness is a sin and causes horrible heartache and grief (Eph 5:18).
Solomon commends eating and drinking for strength, rather than pleasure. There is pleasure in eating, but it cannot dominate. And he commends a nation with policies and examples of temperance (Eccl 10:16-17). Our all-you-can-eat buffets are a wonderful blessing for variety, but they are a curse for the man given to appetite. We should eat to satisfy hunger and promote health. Can we believe, "Enough is as good as a feast"?
What about your marriage? It is a great gift, but we should live without it consuming our lives (I Cor 7:28-35; Ps 73:25-26). What about hobbies and entertainment? They can be pleasant diversions, but too much emphasis and they bring poverty (21:17). What about bodily exercise? It has a little profit, but extremes will cost you your soul (I Tim 4:8). What about righteousness and wisdom? Can you have too much? Yes, indeed! Our Preacher warns against haughty excesses of either, like the Pharisees of old (Eccl 7:16).
Consider sex. It is one of life's sweetest pleasures - tasted and enjoyed in marriage only. But if it is emphasized out of place, it will consume the single person, and it will distort a marriage into painful practices. The expression of love can become a ritual of bitterness. The Lord limited it monthly under the old covenant, which indicates a benefit to restraint.
Our text may also be applied to friends, as 25:17 teaches. If we are obsessive in relationships, we will lose friends. The good gift of friendship pressed to excess will turn to hatred, and then we have ruined another precious blessing by our overindulgence.
Consider also that excessive indulgence in any pleasure dulls the appetite and enjoyment of that thing, so that you need increasingly greater amounts to give you the same original pleasure. The more fine food you eat, the less you enjoy that special dinner out. The more you travel for business, the less you enjoy the getaway with your wife. It is a simple lesson of experience that too much of anything steals much of its pleasure (27:7).
Viewing women other than your wife, which is a sin, will reduce pleasure from your wife. It will not enhance it. From now on you will need greater stimulation to get the pleasure you once had. You have dulled your senses and enjoyment by sinful excess.
Christian reader, what is the honey in your life. In moderation it is good; in excess it is sinful. Is it eating, family, drinking, working, marriage, hobbies, exercise, sex, or something else? What is it? We will have the greatest temptations to be intemperate with the sweet and pleasant things of life. What is your honey?
Once you find your honey, how far should you indulge your pleasure? Consume or enjoy it until you become sick? Oh no, you have gone too far. We practice godly temperance and moderation by avoiding the excess, so we must stay safely back from the sinful line.
There is honey for the spiritual person that has no limits; and it is free (Is 55:1-5)! Lady wisdom offers bread, wine, and a furnished table (9:1-5), and there you will not be sick or disappointed by eating as much as you can. We should also seek to be filled with all the fullness of God, in which there is great blessing (Eph 3:14-19). Here you can in good conscience consume all you can and yet covet more (I Cor 12:31)! O Lord, fill me with your Spirit until I am filled to overflowing, and then give me a little more; please, Lord!
The LORD created honey as a sweet gift to our taste, and it is healthful for our bodies. Yet too much of it overwhelms our senses and makes us sick. When we find something pleasant, it is our wisdom to use it prudently for its intended purpose, lest it becomes a snare to our souls and we end up despising it. Every man's honey is something different, and it is our duty to identify those pleasures and be temperate with them (I Cor 9:25).
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