Black cherry ice cream from Tillamook Country Creamery . . . just typing the words evokes a “mmmm” from my lips. I probably do it too often . . . but there’s nothing like wrapping up supper with a bit of Tillamook black cherry ice cream . . . mmmm! It’s what came to mind as I noodled on these words of wisdom . . .

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.    (Proverbs 16:22 ESV)

I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten honeycomb . . . but I’ve done my fair share of honey over the years . . . both for pleasure and for “medicinal purposes.” Whether as a natural sweetener or as a means to soothe a soar throat, not unusual for honey to find its way into a cup of tea for me. According to one of my online commentaries, “Honey took its place not only among the luxuries, but among the medicines of the Israelites” (Barnes) . . . and so it brought sweetness and it brought health. Kind of like my ice cream . . . pleasurable to taste . . . and, though it might not be technically health food, it always makes me feel pretty good!

Such are gracious words.

Other translations refer to them as “pleasant words.” The original word has the idea of something that is pleasant, beautiful, sweet, or delightful. They are words that are suitable or favorable . . . words that radiate splendor or grace. And these words are sweet to the soul and energizing for the body.

And I think the primary understanding of this proverb concerns our speech . . . along the lines of Paul’s exhortation to “let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Col. 4:6). Words that add flavor . . . words that by their very nature have a preserving quality. Throughout Proverbs, wise use of our words is repeatedly counseled.

But as I think more about gracious words, I’m also considering the words of grace that have been spoken to me through God’s word by God’s Spirit. These are the words of grace spoken through the gospel. Surely it could also be said, “The gospel is like a honeycomb . . . it is sweetness to the soul . . . it is health to the body.”

How sweet is it to digest again the truth that in Christ we have been blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” . . . that God has chosen us “before the foundation of the world” to be “holy and blameless before Him” through the finished work of His Son . . . that He so loves us that He has adopted as sons and daughters . . . that it might all be “to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:3-6)? Pretty sweet!

When the accuser dredges up our past . . . reminds us of our transgressions . . . how pleasant are the words that “in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us” (Eph. 1:7-8a)? So pleasant!

And when we trip up . . . when we fail and fall and it makes us sick to our stomachs . . . what kind of medicine is it to hear the Spirit remind us that “there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” . . . that we have been “set free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” . . . that “God has done what the law could not do” . . . that God sent His beloved Son “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us”? Very powerful medicine . . . reviving the inner man . . . restoring the strength, power, and resolve to keep on keepin’ on.

Praise God for words of grace. Sweet to the soul . . . healing for our very being.

Better than black cherry ice cream . . .