Tasting and Seeing
Years ago, I went to a conference where Louie Giglio held up an apple and took a bite. “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” he said (Psalm 34:8). I don’t know how he made that apple look so delicious, but he made me hungry for an apple with just one bite. As the week went on, I grew hungry for God, too.
The illustration stuck with me through the years. God needs to be tasted and proved in an intimate way. We can’t just say that we know Him; we must taste and see that He is good.
(On a random note: as I was googling around on this topic, I found that Louie Giglio still preaches on this verse. He’s just changed the apple for a Krispy Kreme. Watch it here.)
Years ago, I went to a conference where Louie Giglio held up an apple and took a bite. “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” he said (Psalm 34:8). I don’t know how he made that apple look so delicious, but he made me hungry for an apple with just one bite. As the week went on, I grew hungry for God, too.
The illustration stuck with me through the years. God needs to be tasted and proved in an intimate way. We can’t just say that we know Him; we must taste and see that He is good.
(On a random note: as I was googling around on this topic, I found that Louie Giglio still preaches on this verse. He’s just changed the apple for a Krispy Kreme. Watch it here.)
In the past week, the loneliness of moving across the world has set in. I forgot how long it takes to make intimate friendships where you can really share your heart. Yesterday, the weight of loneliness felt like a heavy burden. Then, I remembered this verse and illustration.
God gently reminded me that He is the ultimate and most intimate relationship that I crave. The loneliness carved into my heart demonstrates my hunger for Him. In my busyness, I hadn’t made deep friendships here, but I’d also lost a lot of my time with God as well.
I am so relational, as I guess most of us women are, and I desire people to hang out with and talk to. I confess that often God seems the last choice in friends. It takes so much stillness and intentionality to deepen my relationship with Him. So, I’ve let it slip. I don’t want to taste and see. Like C.S. Lewis wrote, I’m settling when I could have so much more: “like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
So, I’m trying to still my heart now. To pull up to the table, or through the Krispy Kreme drive thorough, and taste and see and enjoy the good.
Jamie Lath
Jamie Lath is a middle child that has no baby picture without her older sister in it. Even with only two siblings, she grew up with family everywhere because all her aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and even second-cousins lived in her hometown. With forty people at her birthday parties (all relatives) and her sister in every picture, she knows a little about community, and it's everlastingness. This has brought most of her ministry focus into meeting people where they're at, listening closely (especially to those who feel voiceless and like no one is listening), and helping them find God's voice in the mix. Jamie graduated with a BA in Communication Studies from the University of North Texas. Following a year of teaching English in China, she returned to the states to attend Dallas Theological Seminary. She received a Th.M. with a focus on Media Arts. Her background in the arts (ballet, writing, and acting) has given her an understanding of how creative expressions can give people a safe place to begin exploring how to use their voice and how it can touch hearts to hear God’s voice. She also blogs at I just called to say "Olive Juice."
3 Comments
SonShine
Taking Time
Good Afternoon….yes it is afternoon here in TX…even though you are just beginning your morning.and I can relate! ..after 6 moves that relationship bonding time continues to be an ever present need in my life as I see it is in yours. But, like you I have found that my biggest thrill is just spending time in His presence and He has become my dearest and sweetest friend. My human relationships have been few in our moves but my spiritual relationship has grown by leaps and bounds. In fact I learned so much from my time in E.M. Bounds book that I yearned for more. Taste and see that the Lord is good is indeed wise counsel.
Jamie Lath
Thanks
Thanks for the encouragement. It's so good to be reminded that relationships take time but will come. Even better to be reminded that our relationship with God is the greatest. And, thanks for the recommendation of E.M. Bounds. There's a lot of his work on e-text, which makes it nice when it's so expensive to ship things here. 🙂
Gwynne Johnson
Loneliness
Oh can I relate! Moving after twenty years I felt the same pull you are experiencing. God used that time to reveal to me that though loneliness is painful (in my opinion separation is part of the Fall) loneliness doesn’t mean worthlessness! Jesus was lonely, he left heaven, so that you and I could join Him one day! I had often confused loneliness equating it with worthlessness…I still don’t like it, but now I don’t add the sorrow of worthlessness to it.