Nourishment for the Soul
When we’re asked to taste something, we automatically think of food or drink for our physical bodies. But God designed us with a spiritual hunger too, because He wants to provide us with the nourishment that we need. In today’s short video, Paul reveals how God invites us to taste with our spirits.
Have you ever wondered why God created us with taste buds? I believe it's actually a gift He has given us. God could have made us able to nourish our bodies with all the proteins, carbs, and minerals that we need in the same way that we pump gas into our car - strictly utilitarian. But when He created us, He gave us taste buds and the ability to smell, enabling us to detect the most subtle aromas. He made us so that fueling our bodies would not just be something we needed to do but also something we’d discover could be an enjoyable process.
Whether at home or in a restaurant, when we eat, we enter into an event that will delight our tastes, energize our bodies, and unite us in relationships as we visit together. The Psalmist applies this entire idea and process to our relationship with God.
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8 (NIV)
This tells us that we have sensory abilities in our inner person, our true spirit person, that parallel our physical senses. We have spiritual taste buds whereby we can actually taste God. This may seem a little odd, but when you understand it, it's not so strange.
This text calls us to use those abilities. We are called to get beyond the religious brains that we have. Many of us have seen the pictures, heard the reviews, read the commentaries, and are experts in debating about God, but we have little or no experience actually tasting Him in our lives.
Friends, let's not become people who have taste buds of the Spirit but never use them.
It would be like sitting at the biggest restaurant buffet that you can imagine and debating the nature of food and going away hungry because you didn't eat anything…. Kind of silly, right?
Tasting of God is a recurring theme in Scripture. We also read in the Psalms, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Psalm 23:5 (NIV) Jesus constantly talked about the Kingdom of Heaven in terms of parties and banquets. There are many Scripture references to tasting, drinking and partaking of the Life of Jesus. The Gospel is the proclamation that God's intention is to forever give us unlimited access to Himself through His Son Jesus.
Jesus is nourishment to our souls.
He has made us with spiritual taste buds. When we become one with God at the time of salvation, He also satisfies and fulfills our deepest hunger. Jesus offered Himself as the Bread of Life to be eaten and as the Living Water to quench our thirst. Don't let anyone tell you that Jesus was just a historical figure - He is the very nourishment of your soul!
It is through experiencing the Life of Jesus in our actions that the wonder of tasting Him takes place. But because we are doing this with the senses of our spirit, we do not necessarily feel it right away. Most often, the wonder and joy catches up to us after the fact. His love and strength unite us so quietly and gently that we often do not realize until afterwards that we have tasted God. Taste and see that the Lord is good!
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