Taste and see

It is my firm opinion that dessert is proof of the existence of God! I mean, a Creator who made the ingredients that when compiled would be dessert, well that is just plain awe inspiring!

See if you can agree with me here. A beautiful, decadent dessert is placed before you. First you consume it with your eyes. Next, you close your eyes and inhale its fragrance. Then you slowly put a piece on your fork and put it in your mouth. You close your eyes again and savor the flavor. You might even make little moaning noises. It is a moment of bliss and joy where you are totally present in the moment, and nothing else matters. Am I right, or am I right?

We have the capacity to be like that. We have an inborn hunger for God. We cannot be satisfied with anything less than God. We are even commanded to “taste and see that the LORD is good.” (Ps. 34:8a [NIV])

So how do feed our inborn hunger for God? By reading His Word to us, the Bible. I mean really read it. Study it. Find joy and comfort in it. Treat it like the treasure it is.

“What would you think of a person who possessed a priceless treasure but treated it as something of little value? Sadly, that is how many people treat their Bible. They don’t study it, read it, meditate on it, or even spend a few minutes a day to hear what the Lord has to say to them.” (Oct. 5, 1998 Our Daily Bread)

“I have treasured the words of His mouth more than any necessary food.” (Job 23:12 [NKJV])

“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight.” (Jer. 15:16 [NIV])

In his book The Wonder of the Word of God, (1969) Robert L Sumner tells the following story.

“I read the story of a man in the Kansas City area who had lost both hands in an explosion. Not only that, but his face was torn and his eyesight completely destroyed. He had not been saved long and his greatest regret was that he could no longer read the blessed Word of God. Someone told him of a woman in the British Isles who learned to read raised Braille type with her lips. He ordered portions of the Scriptures in Braille for himself, but upon their arrival, he was chagrined to discover that the explosion had so deadened the nerves in his lips that no sense of touch remained.”

“Stooping to carefully kiss the Book, somehow his tongue touched the copy and he realized the possibility of reading the raised type in that manner. A teacher was hastily summoned and the young Christian actually learned to read the raised characters by running his tongue along them. When I read this account, the enthusiastic disciple had gone through the Bible completely four times—and a number of the books he had read over and over again.”

I’ve heard there are roughly 1 million words in the Bible. That is 1 million words this man read using his tongue! If that does not inspire you to read your Bible with greater fervor and devotion, I don’t know what will!

We need to savor the Word of God like we are eating dessert. Consume it with our eyes. Fork it into our souls, letting it be a moment of bliss and joy where we are totally present in the moment, and nothing else matters.

While reading the Bible, ask yourself some questions. What does this text show me about God for which I should praise or thank him? Does this text show me about a need I have to bring to God? How would this change my life if I took it seriously—if this truth were fully alive and effective in my inward being? Why might God be showing this to me now? What is going on in my life that He would be bringing this to my attention today? (I apologize to the person who wrote these questions I am typing here. I have this laminated sheet in the back of my Bible, but did not write the source of them on it. If an alert reader knows who it is, I welcome the comment!)

Remember, dessert is only one letter away from desert! Fill your God-hunger with the sweetness of the Bible and you will be yummy and savory, and not dry and dusty!

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