Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Obeying God when obeying isn’t easy”
Our Bible verse for today: “Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Psalm 34:8 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Most of us need to slow down, take time, and stay put.”
In their book “Slow Church” Christopher Smith and John Pattison explain that taste is the most intimate of our five senses. In fact, our senses actually fall neatly into a hierarchy related to distance and intimacy. The sense of sight allows us to view things from a great distance. We don’t have to be close to something in order to see it. You can stand on a mountaintop overlooking a valley and see for many miles.
Hearing comes next. Although hearing generally is not as far reaching as line of sight can be, it can still be effective over long distances. However, although fragrances can waft through the air, they do dissipate quickly and so the sense of smell requires us to be closer than seeing or hearing. We do have to be very close to an object to touch it, or for it to touch us, although this is still a sensation external to us – it is only surface to surface.
But taste – in order to taste something we must allow it to become internal. It must dissolve on the tongue, wash over the taste buds, and linger in the mouth. We have to savor it.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” We have to savor God. We must take Him in, savor Him, and allow Him to linger with us. To taste God in this way is to come to know Him in all His goodness.
Unfortunately this is difficult for modern-day Christians. Many of us are in such a hurry all the time that we don’t allow ourselves to enjoy God like that. The majority of professing Christians do not have regular extended times of prayer and Bible reading. For many more, participation in the life of the church involves little more than semi-regular attendance at a one hour worship service each week. Or, they change churches so often that they don’t stay in one place long enough to really get to know people.
David Rast, a Benedictine monk once wrote, “Tasting what dissolves on our tongue dissolves the barriers between subject and object. What we have tasted we know “inside and out.” In other words, you cannot really know anyone until you have lingered with them, savored their presence, shared experiences, and established true relationship.
That’s true with respect to God and it is also true with respect to other Christians. We need to slow down, settle down, and spend some time. We cannot develop a deep relationship with God if we don’t spend extended quality time with Him. Likewise, we will not have deep and meaningful relationships with other Christians unless we spend extended quality time with them.
In the hustle and bustle of our highly caffeinated on-the-go world, this may be one of the most difficult areas for us to obey God. We feel the need to go, go, go, but He calls us to slow down, sit down, and stay awhile. As we end this month of devotionally considering the theme of obeying God when obeying isn’t easy, I want to encourage all of us to intentionally slow down and spend some time – spend some time with God and then with each other.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 