Flowing With Milk And Honey

“And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.” (Exodus 3:8).

I've often wondered why the Lord chose milk and honey as the symbols of prosperity. First of all, the milk most likely came from sheep or goats rather than cattle, given the kinds of animals historically kept in that region of the world. And honey, at least initially, most likely referred to the honey or syrup derived from fruits like dates or figs, rather than honey that comes from bees.

By promising that the land would flow with milk and honey, the Lord was basically saying that the fields of grass for grazing and the fruit trees would produce in abundance so that there would always be more than enough. And I'm sure that after wandering through barren wastelands for forty years, where often not even water much less milk and honey were flowing, the promised land with its agricultural abundance must have seemed very enticing.

But I want to talk about how milk and honey might symbolize more than just physical sustenance. Bear in mind that one of the early and main sources of honey might have been dates, which grow on palm trees.

“Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” (Isaiah 49:13-16).

When the Lord talks about the mercy and the comfort that He pours out upon us, to say nothing of how impossible it is for Him to ever forget or forsake us, He mentions two things. He reminds us that just as a mother would never withhold milk from her sucking child, neither would the Lord keep from us the comforting milk of His love and affection. And He reminds us that He has graven us in the palms of His hands and that His precious blood has dripped out of those palms to pay the price for our sins, not unlike the way that honey might drip from the date palms.

Christ is the good shepherd. He leads His flocks to lie down in green pastures next to cool waters. As we follow the Good Shepherd, there will always be plenty of milk to fill our empty souls.

Christ is the True Vine. As long as we are a part of Him and He is a part of us, we can draw strength from His roots and energy from His light, that we may be fruitful and flowing with honey.

When we follow Christ, He is leading us to a land flowing with milk and honey. When we are in need, He will give us nourishment. When we have a bitter cup to drink, He will pour out honey to make things sweet enough to bear. Christ has more milk and honey than He knows what to do with. It is not dripping or trickling. It is flowing, perhaps even overflowing.

For whatever reason we feel that Christ has let us down one too many times, or we've let Him down one too many times, whether we feel He's forsaken us or we fear that we have forsaken Him, if we have shut Him out or sealed up our hearts so that we will not let anything in, then it is time to repent and return to Him and let Him flood our lives with milk and honey until we are drowning in His love and His mercy and His rich and sweet light and goodness.