Taste and See

One of my favorite things to tell someone who doesn’t believe in God yet is for them to try praying and asking God to reveal Himself to them. They can also pray for something simple such as to feel loved or to feel joy or to feel peace in a situation and see if they get an answer to the prayer. If there is an answer, then I tell them to just consider it a coincidence and to continue to ask God to reveal Himself to them. If there is another answer to prayer then they can consider it another coincidence and move on again to praying about something else. As time passes and the coincidences pile up, they are going to need more faith to believe they were all just “coincidences” and that God wasn’t involved. Matthew 7:7 reads, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

A verse that I like to challenge believers with is Psalm 34:8, which reads, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” The Bible is truth. God’s promises for us are yes and amen in Him (2Corinthians 1:20). God’s guarantee to us is that when we genuinely get a taste of who He is, we will not be disappointed. This is a verse that will not let you down.

Personally, I used to have no appetite for the Word of God and found prayer to be boring. But as I began asking God to reveal Himself to me, my faith suddenly began to grow. And as I asked God for more hunger for Him, I found myself desiring to connect with Him more. I suddenly had a desire, or appetite for Him. Just like babies have very simple appetites and are content with milk, I was originally content with just a little bit of prayer time and time in the Word each day. But as I continued in it, asking for more hunger, I found my appetite grow and I began to go a bit deeper. As time passed, my appetite matured and I was really getting a lot out of my prayer time and time in the Word. God wasn’t failing me. I was tasting and seeing just how good God is.

A child’s appetite grows as the child ages, from milk to baby food to simple solid foods and soon to special delicacies. People’s appetites also tend to change a bit as we age. I used to hate cooked spinach, but now I love it. I used to gag at yams, but I now I really enjoy those as well. I used to enjoy Korean dumplings, but after eating so much of them I don’t have as much of an appetite for them anymore. In the same way our appetite for God can change as we grow. I’ve gone through seasons of reading a ton of Scripture. I’ve also gone through seasons of needing a slower pace in the Word, really going deeper in certain books. There have been some seasons where I have had consistent, really long prayer times. And there have been other seasons where my prayer times have been shorter and more focused on praise or just focused on connecting with God’s heart. There have been seasons when I’ve had a lot of grace to fast and seek God in that way, and other seasons where there has been little grace to fast and I’ve instead sought God in other ways. Regardless of the season, there is growth. As I have continued to ask God to taste more of His goodness and to hunger for more, He has never failed me.

Some people want to immediately be able to go deep in the Word and feast on it like they would a well cooked steak. But for someone young in their faith and still developing, a steak isn’t really what is best for their appetite and their digestion. As we taste and see that God is good He will continue to develop our desire for Him and draw us deeper. There is no end to His wonders, but He wants us to go at a pace that is healthy for us. More than the crazy power encounters God simply delights in having a relationship with us. I love having a big meal with the older kids at the children’s home, but I also enjoy feeding the toddlers their small meals and feeding the babies at the orphanage their formula. There is a sweetness in those meals too. So know that wherever you are at in your walk with God, God is delighting in you. He wants your growth to be steady and healthy. He wants to enjoy every moment of it with you.

Taste and see the Lord is good! Ask for more hunger and thirst for Him. He promises that you will be both filled (Matthew 5:6) and satisfied (Psalm 63:5). Amen!