“He who is full loathes honey,
but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.”
Proverbs 27:7
“How could someone do THAT? Don’t they know that’s disgusting? It will hurt you. It’s a sin so why don’t they stop? I don’t get it.”
I have heard people ask these words regarding homosexuality. These are also things said and asked about many life dominating problems: drugs, alcohol, food, sex, killing etc.
Let’s get perspective.
When You Are Satisfied
It’s a summer picnic! The buffet tables are loaded with food: turkey, beef, chicken, sweet potatoes, scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn, sautéed green beans, green bean casserole, potato and macaroni salads, condiments, rolls etc. After all that comes the table full of dessert options! Pies, cakes, jellos, cookies, cakes… .
“I’m stuffed! I’m full!”
BUT Grandma comes delivering a slice of pumpkin pie with a dollop of whipped cream on top. “Have a piece,” she says.
Oh, it looks so good. Oh, it smells so good. Oh, it would taste so good.
When you are satisfied you say…
“No thank you, Grandma. I’m full. I’m satisfied.”
“He who is full loathes honey” PV 27:7
When You Are Starving
Imagine a homeless person. Perhaps this person has not had a meal in days. The hunger is so great that this person will go behind a restaurant, climb into a dumpster, retrieve a chicken bone and take a bite of the remaining bit of meat off that bone.
“Oh, this is sweet,” their soul exclaims.
“How could someone do THAT? Don’t they know that’s disgusting? It will hurt you. Why don’t they stop? I don’t get it,” the questions repeat.
Let’s substitute the above food-needs for emotional-needs. Let’s put the above scenarios in emotional terms.
Let’s say a person has been supplied with a ‘buffet of emotional foods’: affection, validation, love, sense of belonging, acceptance, gender affirmation etc. He or she may be offered the ‘desserts’ of life: illicit alcohol, drugs, sex (including homosexuality), material goods etc. and say, “Oh, it looks so good. Oh, it smells so good. Oh, it would taste good, but, No thank you. I am full. I am satisfied.”
It is much easier for the emotionally satisfied person to decline the buffet of sin temptations because they are in a position of being full.
“He who is full loathes honey” PV 27:7
But let’s say there are persons who have not been fed the nourishing, satisfying emotional foods of relationships. They may be offered the ‘desserts of life’ (illicit drugs, sex [including homosexuality] etc) and it will taste sweet.
“To the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet” PV 27:7
Proverbs 27:7 gives us insight into the orientation and acting out of one’s pangs of hunger along with a greater compassion upon those that succumb to the unholy temptation of their legitimate hunger pangs.