Taste and See
I still remember the very first time I tasted Indian food. Growing up in rural Virginia, I had little exposure to ethnic cuisines other than the typical Italian, Mexican, or Chinese offered by nationally franchised chain restaurants. I had grown accustomed to sesame chicken, ravioli, and enchiladas. Because of my limited experience, I felt I had tried just about every flavor the world had to offer. Some I liked, some I loved, and some I couldn’t bear the taste of. Little did I know how that would all change in an instant.
It was winter, and I was no longer living in Virginia. Far from my temperate home, I had migrated to the frigid plains of Minnesota to stay for some time with my sister. One particularly bitter evening we decided to try out this little Indian restaurant in a shopping center nearby. I remember distinctly opening the door to the restaurant and stepping out of the subarctic night into the warmth of this cozy little joint, the air was filled with pleasant and exotic fragrances that I knew not. As I took that first apprehensive bite of coconut curry, the foundation upon which I had based all of my assumptions about what I knew my taste buds were capable of crumbled. I tasted and saw that Indian food was good.
In Psalm 34:8, the Psalmist tells us to “taste and see that the LORD is good, blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”. Often we may feel as though we have tried it all: sex, drugs, alcohol, adrenaline. Yet all these things which may seem pleasing at the moment leave us feeling empty and often even worse than we felt beforehand. God offers us something new, something we haven’t tried, and tells us to taste and see that it is good! How little I knew of what blessed flavors awaited me before I tasted that curry. Likewise, God invites us to try Him out and promises that we will be blessed in doing so.
Once we take God up on His offer, He creates a hunger in us for more of Him. The wonderful thing about God is that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). A rewarder? 1 Corinthians 2:9 states “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him”.
You may recall the stories you heard growing up of how the King and Queen of Spain were so smitten with spices from India that they commissioned a young explorer named Christopher Columbus to search out a new, shorter trade route to India for them. Much like how we seek God out after tasting and seeing that He is good, the King and Queen of Spain sought out a way to bring those spices closer to them more quickly. In the process, something that their European eyes had not seen broke the horizon off the Santa Maria’s bow; a whole new world! The discovery of the New World by Europe would never have occurred were it not for the seeking out of that which they loved. Only God knows what treasures await you once you taste and see that God is good and choose to diligently seek after Him! Be blessed!
