Un-tasted Soup

“Oh taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him!” (Psalm 34:8)

“Miriam!” Maggie calls her sister, who is ever ready to try delicious edibles in order to quench her seemingly never-ending hunger. Miriam runs excitedly through the house toward the lovely smells wafting out from the kitchen. Yesterday, Maggie had a made a cherry pie, the day before that, it was frosted banana bread, before that it had been oatmeal cake… and so forth. Now, as Miriam arrives in the kitchen, a delighted smile crosses her face. She glances around for the new delectability she will be the first to try, and, as Maggie points to the stove, Miriam, still eagerly smiling, rushes over. But when she sees the bubbling pot of tomato chili, filled with squishy little green things looking somewhat like disfigured, once-upon-a-time celery, that smile downright flees from her face.” What are those?” is all she can find in her disappointed little heart to say.

Maggie coaxes and prods, for a guest is expected to arrive later that night. However, Miriam stubbornly refuses to let one drop drip past her tightly pressed lips, and returns to whatever she happens to be doing at the time. Later, when the guest comes, and they are all seated at the table ready to eat, Miriam finally partakes, which is a good thing because it turned out to be a toothsome delight. If she had not been willing to taste the food that didn’t have quite as delicious an appearance, she would have missed out on a smashing hit.

So it is with life. So many times, we see the “ugly” parts of following the Lord. For example, reading the book of Leviticus (or any other book of the bible, you aren’t particularly fond of), or going to church on Sundays rather than sleeping in, or doing an unpleasant task, or any other manner of things. And we take those things, and turn up our noses at them, refusing to take that “taste” that gets us started. So today, be encouraged to take a taste of reading that seemingly boring section of the Bible, or helping that old lady, and just see how good the Lord really is!

(Ok, so I admit, I slightly over-exaggerated the part about tasting the food, and it does feel a little weird writing about myself in third person, but it worked, didn’t it?)