What Does God Taste Like?

Thursday, 14 August 2008

What Does God Taste Like?
by miss poppy
Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Have you ever tasted God?
God is so good on so many levels that I think this verse can be applied many different ways. Without realizing it, I always thought it meant that God does good things. While that is certainly true, I am now realizing that there is more to the meaning than that.
I still have eons to go in my relationship with God, but one thing that I keep realizing over and over again is how satisfying God is as a person. I don't have to beg Him to satisfy me. If I spend time with Him, His being automatically fills me. I don't have to entreat Him to fill me with love. He can't help it.
As I have read, you can't out give God. If I choose to surrender my time to Him, He gives me an overflow of joy and peace and comfort that I can't find anywhere else. God could demand my love and obedience as His right; instead, He rewards me for doing things that I should do automatically.
I shake my head at myself sometimes. Somehow, Satan still manages to convince me that pressing in to God's presence is too hard or too much work. But there's no greater lie. God's presence nourishes my soul and gives me the greatest pleasure I could ever know.
Yes, Christianity is about self-denial, but that self-denial leads to the greatest joy a person can have. There is sacrifice involved, daily sacrifice of my control of my life. But He is always waiting on both sides of the sacrifice, holding my hand while I make the choice to surrender and comforting me with showers of love afterward. Just being close to Him is enough to satisfy me forever. That's not because I'm virtuous or spiritual; it's because He's irresistibly delightful.
Humans are made for delight, both to give it and to receive it. The Bible doesn't say "Put up with the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." No way! It says, Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). We delight in things that are delightful; we're not meant to hate our time with God or receive no joy from it.
Sometimes it seems as if God is trying to get my attention and woo me away from thinking so much and analyzing everything about my spiritual journey. I want to get through every issue and understand everything today! Yesterday if possible! But God smiles at me and calls to me so sweetly that my heart cries to respond.
"Come here! Come close! Enjoy me!" He seems to be saying. "The other things will come in their time."
And when I look at Him, forgetting my obsessive concentration and seriousness, I am gloriously reminded that He is the living water I have needed all along. He stands with His arms open, wanting to be known and enjoyed. I could look at Him forever and be satisfied, and yet He also touches me and interacts with me. In those holy moments I realize with wonder that not only do I delight in Him, but He also delights in me. Psalm 149:4 says, For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. There is nothing more nourishing to my heart than this reciprocal relationship.
I believe that I have only experienced the tip of the iceberg of the delight that is contained in God's being. His winsomeness calls to me and pierces me with longing for Him. And I am not drawn to a God who enthralls me and ignores me. No, His gaze is fixed as intently on me as mine is on Him.
A.W. Tozer wrote, "When we lift our inward eyes to gaze upon God we are sure to meet friendly eyes gazing back at us....When the eyes of the soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on this earth." (The Pursuit of God)
How does God "taste" to you? How do you feel (and know) when you are in God's presence?