Taste

 March 27, 2024

I’ve been writing a short daily devotional for my grandchildren in which I choose a verse each week and unpack it day by day. A single verse for the week is easily memorized, so hopefully seeing it every day will help them remember. This week’s verse was actually more than one; I chose eight verses from Psalm 34. (So much for memorizing!)

The 8th verse has been on my mind all day today: 

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; 

Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”

I’ve been battling a cold for the past couple days. It’s no big deal, but it has made me look at this verse a bit differently than ever before. Most of our sense of taste is really the sense of smell. We taste a barbecue or a warm apple pie more through our noses than our mouths. THe combination of spices, the nuances of flavors that we love so much are due to the aromas that waft up our nostrils and register in our brains.

For the last couple days, my head has been stuffy; I am breathing mostly through my mouth; If you taped my mouth shut, I think I would suffocate. I can barely taste my food. And it got me to thinking, “What in life gives us spiritual stuffy noses so we cannot taste and see that God is good.?” Deliberate sin stuffs my head with congestion. The distractions of the internet or TV fill my head with spiritual congestion. Pride, jealousy, laziness, lust…the list goes on, and every one of them blocks the sweet aroma of Christ that God intends us to enjoy. We live on a bland diet and miss out on the lavish feast because we can’t smell anything. Sin congests the head and heart. 

God’s spiritual decongestant is the Holy Spirit acting through his Word, the Bible. Let him cleanse your palate so you can taste…really taste…and see that the Lord is Good!