psalm 36 : Who can say the Bible is sweeter than honey?

verse 5: Your love is faithful, LORD, and even the clouds in the sky can depend on you.

verse 6: Your decisions are always fair. They are firm like mountains, deep like the sea, and all people and animals are under your care.

verse 7: Your love is a treasure, and everyone finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.

David mentions the wicked in Psalm 36, then goes on to praise God's steadfast love. When we read David's psalms, it's easy to be drawn to his words of praise, but it's important to consider the context behind them. David writes about wickedness and God's steadfast love in succession, but based on his experiences, the order is actually reversed. As David experienced God's love, justice, and salvation, he recognized his own wickedness.

David's experience flips the order of repentance and salvation. Salvation comes first and repentance comes later. Without judging David's goodness or wickedness, he recognized that God loved him steadfastly and that's what made him realize his own sins and wickedness. So, David's psalms often begin with confessions of his sins and wickedness.

Good and evil coexist within David. This is his decisive recognition. The depths of the heart of the wicked (v. 1) are none other than David's own heart. David is the person who no one else sees but himself. He did not hide under the shadow of the Lord's wings, but God protected him under His wings.

In David's eyes, the Scriptures, God's word, contain His primary protection. So, can't David say that the Lord's words are sweeter than honeycomb? Who would find the words of the Bible sweeter than honey: the good person or the sinful person? For the unrepentant person who has been preemptively forgiven by God, the Bible is sweeter than honey. For someone like the Apostle Paul, who saw himself as a monster of a sinner who was never fully formed, the Bible will have a stronger sweetness.

God, David's self-awareness, was recognized through Him. Your love played a role in this recognition process. Please bestow your steadfast love upon me today, so that I can become a modern-day David. Amen.