… now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
I don’t know why this should be, but there are some verses in the Bible that seem to jump off of the page. Then they grab me by the lapel and shout, “ISN’T THIS THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER?!” For me, this is one of those verses.
Peter has been talking about nourishing our spirit using the food we feed our bodies with. Specifically, he uses the example of a newborn baby craving milk. His example is ripe with all kinds of inferences that color our understanding of what he means. Then he goes on to say, “now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
Who thinks of the Lord as a taste? And yet, what could be more appropriate? As adults, we often get lost in intellectualizing our faith. Such and such must mean so and so. If that happens then this must happen also. In our struggle to understand God and what Jesus did for us, we are prone to put ourselves on a dais while we try and stuff God into a box of our own making.
The Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law were the prime examples of this. Yet they are not alone in their desire to control the narrative. Since their time, the history of the Christian church has been littered with the arguments of people who disagree about the rules. Rules that dictate who God is and what He can do.
I suspect that God is never uncertain about what He needs to be doing. And what if God tried to confine himself to human theology? I think he would be torn between earth-rending laughter and the desire to shake His head in wonder at our small-mindedness.
Luke records the story of people bringing babies to Jesus and the disciples rebuking them. Imagine being a parent and being in the presence of the Messiah. You have a new baby, and you want God’s blessing. Here, in the tiny corner of the world where Jesus walked on earth, is the opportunity to do something that no other parent has been able to do before.
Seeing his disciple’s reaction (they had decided that being nice to babies and their parents didn’t fit in their idea of God’s job description) Jesus intervenes:
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18: 16b-17)
How does a newborn baby know that milk is good? It tastes good! How do we know God is good? It is not because of our intellectual prowess! It is because, like a little child, we know what tastes good.
Application: Marvel at the simplicity of faith. Be cautious of intellectual boxes.
Food for Thought: Please share an example that illustrates tasting that the Lord is good.
2 thessalonians 3: 10
Hey Sherbet,
Very interesting passage!
“For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.‘”
That seems to tie in to the discussions we have been having here lately.
Thank you!
Interesting question. Every personal example I can think of would take a long time to read. Thus, I will go with a different angle.
Sometimes I have eaten nothing but junk food all day and skipped any nutritional meal. When I do so, I feel bad the next day and tend to be lethargic and discouraged. The same thing can happen in my spiritual life. If I only intake worldly things and skip meeting with God in study, prayer and worship, I tend to become spiritually lethargic, discouraged, have a bad attitude and am less prepared to glorify God by pointing others to Him. The daily nutrition is important to regulate proper growth and spiritual health. Luke 9: 23; Colossians 2: 6 – 7; 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 – 18
Rich,
Thank you for your insight on the importance of spiritual nourishment. It is a great point. It is far to easy too become distracted from that which is truly nourishing.
We are spiritual beings confined to physical bodies, and most have heard feed the spirit as we starve the flesh.
I fed my flesh for 33 years and God called me to begin feeding my spirit through a men’s Bible study and I had to buy a Bible. I went to a Christian Supply at night so no-one would see me. Parked my car so I could observe the front of the store as well as most of the parking lot. In time the store was empty and the parking lot was clear so I hurried into the store. A little gray haired lady asked if she could help me, I replied yes I wanted to buy a Bible. She asked me, “ what kind ” ? My mind froze, I had no idea what to say, so I took command and directed her to give me any one of them, they all said the same thing. ( took care of that ) She brought me a box, I paid for it and hurried back to the security of my car parked in the dark.
I returned to my home, God had directed me to separate myself from all past acquaintances, sat on the living room floor and open the box. I remember tears actually came to my eyes when I looked ant my first Bible. It was beautiful, bound in black leather, the edges of all the pages were this shiny gold color, and I had never seen paper pages so dainty and thin. I very carefully looked through it and put on the dining room table until Bible study came.
There were about 300 men at the Monday night Bible study, I went to my study room where I was with a group leader and about 15 other men. I listened as they discussed the lesson they had just finished, went with them to the main auditorium for a summary teaching, received my lesson for the current week and we closed. As I began my study, I found I could not understand a word this bible was saying. The little gray haired lady had given me a Scofield Study Bible, KJV….. So I went back to the Christian Supply and got a Living Bible for children and between the two I began understanding what God was saying to me. Today this Bible is all gray duct tape, the gold is no longer on the pages, and their is writing on almost each page. Some have no room for more notes to be written.
In time I began helping out in church, greeting, nursery duty, led new members class, led adult Sunday school, home bible studies, various committees at church, knocking on doors, passing out fliers, and became a group leader at the Men’s Bible Study.
For 43 years now, I have enjoyed every calling by God, and most of all I look forward to the times when our God will bring a person in need to me who needs help. The world just goes away and I can feel His love for them as it passes through my heart and His words come from my mouth. My wife is so sweet, she has learned to find a place to wait and let me finish God’s work.
Psalm 34:8, Romans 8:5, Romans 12:2, Romans 13:14, Galatians 5:16-18,
(Minor edit added at Ron’s request. – JE)
Dear Brother Ron,
Thank you so much for your story today. I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard at the thought of an ex-marine reconnoitering a Christian book store parking lot. I’m glad to hear you still have that Bible! What a treasure!!
Lots of memories with that Bible.
👍🏻