Too Full for Honey

My husband and I are fortunate to have both our parents live close by. On Thanksgiving, we get to eat a full Thanksgiving lunch at my parent’s house and then dinner at his parent’s house! Only if you knew how much I love food would you understand how awesome this is for me personally. There is just one problem. There is such a vast array of deliciousness at my parent’s house that even though it is dinner time when we arrive at his parent’s house, I am still so full I can’t eat!

This is an absolute atrocity! His family has about three tables full of marvelous Thanksgiving dinner treats. I am telling myself to hurry up and get hungry so that I can enjoy all this amazing food around me. As good as it all looks, I sit in the middle of it and can’t even partake in it. My tummy is just still too satisfied from my huge lunch.

In Proverbs 5, a father is warning his son about a sweet treat that he needs to avoid:

For the lips of a loose woman drip honey as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil,

But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged and devouring sword.

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold of Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead).

The father is describing an adulteress woman that would be tempting to the son. He said her lips are sweet like honey, but in the end will bring him death. Several times the Bible refers to a temptress as someone who offers something sweet that turns bitter once it’s been partaken of. Knowing this, I found this next verse very intriguing:

Proverbs 27:7

A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.

Even though I was around such good food at Thanksgiving dinner, I was too full from my lunch to try to indulge in it. However, if I had not eaten breakfast or lunch, you better believe I would have been willing to eat a McDonald’s burger for my Thanksgiving dinner if that’s what was available. The Bible says that this same concept is true for men. If a man is full of pleasure from his wife, even something that could be a temptation is not really an option for him. But, if he is starving at home, something unexceptional could even grab his attention.

If a spouse wanders from the marriage relationship, the sole responsibility for that lies on his or her shoulders. They took the vows to be committed in sickness and in health, in good times and bad. The Bible adamantly warns against straying outside of the marriage relationship and that is something that we are all called to do before God.

I do see, though, how I can do my part in helping my husband refuse the honey that is offered to him in his day to day life. I can’t live my life by how I feel. If I did that, I would never work out. I would never clean. I wouldn’t even show up to work on some days. I have to choose to put forth effort in things that I know are my part in a relationship. I have to choose to show interest in my husband. I have to choose to try to give him the opportunity to express his sexual desires in a God given area that is safe and blameless.

1 Corinthians 7:5

Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Father God, I may not always feel like being intimate with my husband, but I know that it is a healthy and very important aspect of our relationship. I want my husband to invest in me even when he doesn’t feel like it, and I know that I can help him fulfill his sexual desires even when I don’t initially feel like it. Please give me a desire to be with my husband. Please give me creative ideas of how I can initiate physical intimacy with him. Please give me the courage to fill him so full that even the sweetest honey must be refused by him.