Taste and See

What an incredibly complex gift taste is. Taste is what causes a baby to spit out a new food or open its mouth for more. A good taste can be enhanced, but a bad taste cannot be disguised. Some can detect the very slightest nuances in flavor on their tongues. And many make a living off this skill.

Taste causes us to crave certain combinations of flavors and foods. Our memory is wired to recall tastes we’ve experienced—and we salivate at the recollection of certain “trigger” foods.

Even with our most articulate, colorful vocabulary—there are some tastes that just can’t be described. I believe it’s that way with God. Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the LORD is good;” We know He is good, and we marvel at His goodness, yet we can’t even begin to describe the extent and flavor, if you will, of that goodness.

Psalm 119:103 declares of the Lord, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” There is a sweetness about God that is to be savored—and even His words have a taste!

According to Matthew 6:28, even death has a taste. “"Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." But for those of us who are in Christ, even that taste doesn’t have to be a bad one.

The way the cheese oozes out of a grilled Velveeta sandwich and begins to soak into the golden-toasted bread…it’s a taste that speaks to me of childhood, of safety, of comfort—just how it does that I can’t fully explain.

But I know that God designed it that way—He designed us to experience the world around us wholeheartedly—with our senses. To taste and see His goodness through His creation. “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Taste doesn’t just happen—it’s a process of creation—a little of this and a little of that; the perfect temperature; cooked to the perfect color and texture…we are born to create taste; our Creator is the author of it, and we are made in His image.

Tasting—and the connection taste has with our past experiences—I believe is part of the life “to the full” that John 10:10 talks about. Sometimes we get a bad taste in our mouth for life. We don’t truly savor it—we’re in survival mode. We don’t take the time to enjoy the blessings God has granted us. We focus on the negative. We’re in a “taste rut,” as it were. Everything is bland, blah, non-satisfying.

But if our relationship with Christ is primary—if we truly abide in Him, I believe we will taste life in a new way. Not only in the natural, but our spiritual sense of taste will come alive—and we will know new dimensions of the goodness of God. We will “taste and see.” When God is our regular portion, we will also begin to see anew. One sense is connected with another in a fuller, more rewarding experience. So it is with God. All that He has for us can only be tasted—sampled really—in this life; but who wouldn’t want to go to such a dinner party?