The journey in pursuit of God for revival is a long one. It is filled with opportunities as well as challenges. The way is steep, and many choose to take the easier path. The path of least resistance. That path does not lead to a supernatural move of God. The easier path can lead to religious devotion like the Pharisees experienced.
Just imagine if we could encounter God in greater ways in our personal lives. Suppose we could finally be free of hypocrisy, lukewarm affections, apathetic praying, lackluster worship, fear to evangelize, and we could really fall in love with the God who loved us first. Picture coming alive spiritually in ways never before thought possible. Fathom getting to know God better and better. Just think if our souls were set on fire for God and the things of God while all else took a backseat. Consider the power to start sharing Jesus with others and those people being marvelously saved. Entertain the thought of people in a worship service singing with more fervor than ever before. See in the mind sinners running to the alter to repent dozens at a time, crying out to God, weeping in brokenness, finding God ready to save, deliver, heal, forgive, and lift heavy burdens. Contemplate more and more people showing up to worship services until the pews are packed and they also encounter God. Meditate on the thought that all those same things happen night after night. If you can picture that, I would say you only have imagined a part of what God does in revival.
Most of us have never experienced anything like that. It is hard to long for something never experienced. One taste of God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Elohim, Abba and people are not the same. Real God encounters are life transforming. Ask Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Elijah, Peter, John, and Paul.
Churches across America spend billions of dollars in ministry, staff salaries, cutting edge technology, and facilities all supposedly to help people encounter God. To get a taste of Him. Week after week people flock to houses of worship where they sing and listen to sermons. Do they really get a taste of the living God, His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit? If we did, what joy would fill our hearts. Inexpressible joy.
Many will set aside time to go through devotions, but how many will truly taste and savor God? Too many of us have contented ourselves to cram our mouths with the crumbs and table scraps on the floor instead of sitting at the table of God and feasting on Him. Enjoying Him. Getting nourished by Him. Feeling fulfilled with Him.
God longs be longed for. He seeks to be sought. He desires to be tasted, tried, experienced and found that He is good. O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. [Ps 34:8] The word taste means to try. Try God. Hunger for Him and sit down to feast on Him. To experience, learn, discover, enjoy, and explore Him.
A few weeks ago, Brenda cooked a meal that I enjoyed enormously. I considered it a gourmet meal. Simpe to some. A bountiful feast to me. Dumplings, turnip greens, and cornbread. I am ashamed of how much I ate that night. My taste buds did the happy dance. I did not eat to live that night. I lived to eat and eat, then eat some more. I enjoyed each bite. The favor of the greens mixed with some pepper sauce was a memorable experience I got full.
What if the same way we could feast on God? To really taste, perceive, delight, and be satisfied with all the flavors of God. His extravagant grace, surpassing love, enduring mercy, palatable patience, and so much more. Instead of meaningless devotions consider if God continually revealed Himself to us. Each revelation served to create a hunger for more so that we went back for second and third portions.
We get too busy to enjoy God. Too fast paced to taste and see. The word see in our passage means to inspect, consider and have vision. Does that describe our experience with Abba Father? It seems there is little tasting and seeing among the masses. We are too jam packed in our schedules to inspect and get a renewed vision of God. Those who do not taste and see might as well be eating table scraps off the floor instead of a feast at the table.
We need to see that God is good after we have experienced Him. That means knowing God is pleasant, beautiful and valuable in our estimation. God is so much more than a cosmic cop policing the universe and keeping record of who breaks His law. He is a loving Father. Not a tyrannical father. A loving, kind, compassionate, tender Father. At the same time, He is also a Righteous Judge. Ready and willing to hand down punishment and condemnation on all who spurn His love and grace. Those who have tasted God as Father know He is good. Those who reject Him will experience Him as Judge.
Sinners who tasted salvation through Jesus are not only blessed but find refuge in Him. Safety and shelter in the day of judgment. Hallelujah. The saved will escape the wrath of Jehovah and be accepted into His presence in Heaven. There saved sinners will find a place setting with a reserved seat at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Then, and only then will they fully taste and see that God is good.
- Describe your last meaningful God encounter and how it impacted your life? How long ago did that happen?
- On a scale of 1-100 where would you pinpoint your hunger to experience more of God?
- Explain what tasting and seeing God personally would require?
- Are you settling for the table scraps on the floor or sitting at the table of God and enjoying the feast of Him?
- Contemplate the goodness of God today. Taste and see. Set aside time to linger and enjoy Him.
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