Developing a Taste
One night my husband and I asked our boys where they wanted to go for dinner. My oldest son called out, "SAMs!"
"As in . . . the warehouse SAMs?" I asked.
"Yes, I love their pizza and cinnamon pretzels," he replied.
This is the same kid whose favorite foods are seared ahi tuna and cedar-plank salmon. As a treat before an end-of-the-year evaluation for school, I took him to a restaurant that served an ahi tuna sandwich. He sounded like a chef from the Food Network: "You wouldn't think all of these different ingredients -- the frizzled onions, plum barbecue sauce, hoisin sauce, black truffle oil, baby greens, honey roasted nuts, sesame seeds, & wasabi cream -- would taste good together, but the flavors mix so well." (He was quoting the menu from memory.)
It's hard to imagine going back to SAMs pizza after tasting these sophisticated, gourmet foods.
But we do it all of the time with God, don't we? We have a mountain-top experience at a summer camp as a teenager, then go back to hit-or-miss devotions a few weeks later. We see God answer a need in a way that only He could, then go back to worrying about day-to-day needs. We experience God's emotional healing after a relationship ends or we lose a loved one . . . only to be overwhelmed with bitterness over a petty argument only months later.
How can we taste the richness of intimacy with God . . . then settle for a surface relationship?
How can we taste God's perfect provision . . . then settle for a lack of trust in Him?
How can we taste God's gracious healing . . . then be ruined by our own pride?
Psalm 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the LORD is good . . ."
I am thankful that my son still craves "common" food after being exposed (mostly by his grandparents) to more refined tastes. (My bank account is especially grateful.)
However, our exposure to rich intimacy with God should lead us to crave even more depth with Him. Any amount of time spent with God is a positive thing, but as we taste His grace and healing, our craving should be for more of Him.
