When the calendar rolls around to fall, we know that Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is near. Our minds turn to taking a spiritual inventory before the Lord, pursuing repentance, seeking forgiveness and making amends. With Rosh Hashanah approaching next month, we want to draw attention to another of its traditional highlights: sweetness.
Apples and honey are iconic symbols of Rosh Hashanah, and the customary holiday greeting is “May you have a sweet new year.” Amid Israel’s war with Hamas and the approaching first anniversary of the October 7 massacre Israel endured, focusing on sweetness may feel almost inappropriate. However, amid so much instability, mourning and bitterness in the world, maybe you’re craving sweetness more than ever. The Lord is ready to give it.
Trying times can make it harder to identify sweet things. However, Philippians 4:8 invites us to set our minds on the good, pure and lovely. The darker the days, the more important this practice becomes to our spiritual health. We must intentionally search out the sweetness the Lord presents us each day. As we train our eyes to scout for His sweet offerings, we heighten our appreciation for His everyday gifts of health, relationships, beauty, His presence, and more.
Aside from these, the Bible tells us about some other sweet things. As we wish each other a sweet New Year this Rosh Hashanah, let’s plan to add these to our regular search for sweetness in the coming year.
1. The Knowledge of God is Sweet
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in [Messiah], and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
— 2 Corinthians 2:14 (NASB1995)
Have you ever walked into a home where someone was baking a sweet treat? As you breathe in the delicious fragrance, you think, “Mmm, what smells so good?” Our greatest gift is salvation in Yeshua (Jesus) and, through Him, the ability to know and be in fellowship with the God of Israel. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:14 that this knowledge of the Messiah has a sweet aroma.
If the sweetness of our knowing Messiah is evident to others, how much does it add to our own lives? Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8 that the value of knowing Yeshua surpassed everything else in his whole life.
The knowledge of God is sweet. Let’s press on to know Him more and more in the coming year, and may this sweetness fill our lives and be manifest to everyone around us.
2. God’s Word is Sweet
How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
— Psalm 119:103
What’s the longest chapter in the Bible? Psalm 119 has 179 verses and, depending on the translation, just shy of 2,500 words. Its theme is the wonder, glory and benefit of God’s Word. Its author says the words of the Lord are sweeter than honey.
According to the psalmist, dipping our minds into God’s Word is like dipping a hand into a jar of honey and removing it with fingers dripping with sweetness to satisfy our hunger. Let’s commit to spending more time in the Scriptures in the coming year and discovering the sweetness of God’s words there.
3. Wisdom is Sweet
Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: If you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.
— Proverbs 24:13–14
Israel’s King Solomon compared something else to the sweetness of honey: wisdom.
Wisdom is more than knowledge or understanding. Wisdom results when knowledge and experience combine to produce good judgment. The sweetness of wisdom lies in its ability to give us deeper insights than mere information might suggest. Wisdom divides the frivolous from the meaningful. It cuts through confusion and points forward to growth and wholeness.
If we lack wisdom, James 1:5 urges us to ask God for it because He will give it generously. In the months ahead, let’s rejoice in the wisdom God has given us and ask Him to grant us even more so that wisdom’s sweetness will abound in our lives.
4. The Decrees of the Lord are Sweet
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
— Psalm 19:9–11
We were each born with a sinful nature, and that makes us prone to resisting rules. So how is it that David was able to say in Psalm 19 that God’s decrees — His laws — are sweet?
God’s laws reveal His holiness, purity and goodness. Beholding the goodness of the Lord is sweet indeed. The Lord’s decrees serve as guardrails to keep our lives centered and on track. His will for our lives is conveyed in various “dos and don’ts” recorded throughout both Old and New Testaments. These help us keep our fellowship with Him clear and clean — where abundant sweetness in life lies.
Throughout this next year, let’s search for the sweetness of the Lord’s decrees. Let’s look for His character, holiness and goodness in the things He tells us in His Word to do and not do.
5. Gracious Words are Sweet
Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
— Proverbs 16:24
The words we speak carry the power of life and death. So says Proverbs 18:21. They can lift up or tear down. With our tongue, Scripture says, we can help the weak stand and strengthen feeble hearts. Our speech can soothe and heal, turn away wrath, make a heart glad, praise the Lord, deliver knowledge, teach kindness, and proclaim God’s righteousness.* Scripture also reveals that the same tongue that produces sweet words can also attack, lie, curse, poison, plot destruction, work ruin, and crush the spirit.**
Gracious words — kind and pleasant words — are sweet to receive and sweet to give. We can’t control the words others speak to us. However, we can manage what we say.
Don’t we want to edify with our words? With our speech, we can be soothers and healers, examples of kindness, ones who persuade with gentleness and point people to the praiseworthiness of God. What a privilege it is to possess the power to spread such sweetness in others’ lives.
In the year ahead, let’s commit to becoming speakers of sweet words and being more diligent in stewarding the quality of content we allow into our lives. Life will be sweeter all around if we will.
*See Job 4:4, Proverbs 15:4, Proverbs 15:1, Proverbs 12:25, Psalm 66:17, Proverbs 15:2, Proverbs 31:26, and Psalm 51:14.
**See Jeremiah 18:18, Psalm 78:36, James 3:9, James 3:8, Psalm 52:2, and Proverbs 26:28.
6. Sweet Meditations
May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord.
— Psalm 104:34 (NKJV)
God has shown us so much sweetness; how can we return some to Him? What is sweet to the Lord? Our meditations can be.
The word meditation in the Bible encompasses what fills our minds. That includes our thoughts, contemplations, ponderings, reflections, preoccupations and where our mind goes when we let it wander off.
We are the stewards of our thoughts. What we focus on will gain strength, and what we neglect will weaken. 2 Corinthians 10:15 says we have the power and responsibility to bring every thought captive into obedience to Messiah.
God sees our hearts and our thoughts. What kinds of meditations are we presenting to Him? Do sweet offerings flow from us to Him?
Let’s make intentional efforts to steward our thought life well in the next year, focusing on the good and lovely, holy and pure. That way, our minds and meditations will be sweet gifts to the Lord.
Preparing for a Sweet New Year
So, as you’re spending this month preparing your heart with the Lord for the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, may you also ready yourself to receive a sweet New Year from Him through His bountiful gifts. May the coming year find your life dripping with the sweetness of wisdom, God’s Word, His decrees and the incredible aroma of knowing Him. May your meditations be sweet to Him in return, and may you receive and give an abundance of gracious words.
