Friends and family visits are a joy when living overseas. Catching up on events and people is a glorious time to reflect on the blessings God offers to us in familial fellowship with one another. We recently delighted in showing several family members the glories of Australia– The Great Ocean Road, Fairy penguins, Sovereign Hill, Tasmania, the Blue Mountains, and, of course, iconic Sydney. I think they got a pretty good taste.
Taste…that brings to mind food, eating, ingesting. The bible uses this terminology frequently in passages such as Psalm 34: 8 “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!”. Or how about in Ezekiel 3:1-3 “And he said to me, ‘Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.’ Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.’” But why eating? Why not smelling? Or breathing? Or holding?
Well, I started off this blog with the joys of visitors. The down side of these visits is that through no fault of theirs, I neglect my daily bible readings. If I were a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, I would arise early or stay up late to do my readings before the activities of the day overwhelm me. But…I don’t. And when I return to my usual ritual of drinking a cup of coffee and opening up the scriptures before all the silliness of the day begins, I discover that in fact if feels like being fed—no other words are sufficient to describe the fulfillment of spending time listening to what God has to say to me. The Creator of all that is wants to talk to me…me? Really? Me? Surely not!?! Surely yes!!!
Reading the words is a mental process, but understanding them and taking them to heart really is an “eating” process. Chewing, tasting, swallowing to ultimately nourish mind, soul and body. And it tastes good :-d Gorge yourself on The Word, suck the marrow from its truths, get fat wrestling with the scriptures. This is a good obesity. Relish the wisdom, savor the precepts, and pig out on the meat of God’s words spoken directly to you.
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. John 4:34
theologicalcudchewing 