TASTE & SEE

The Lord is good and His love is sweet! Just come to His table, for it is set out before you.

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who fear Him will have all they need. Psalm 34:8

All my life I have seen the goodness of God around me and within me. When I seek the Lord first, before all things, I taste the fresh life-giving springs He so freely pours. What He constantly pours in, I can't help but pour out, for He overflows my cup and completely satisfies every need and desire I have. He sets the table before me and a seat awaits my presence, for He longs for me and desires for me to feast with Him. This love far outweighs anything I could imagine, and it's growing inside of me everyday.

Drink deeply of the pleasures of this God. Experience for yourself the joyous mercies He gives to all who turn to hide themselves in Him. Psalm 34:8 TPT

In life, we need food and water to survive. Without it, we starve, we deteriorate, and we are malnourished from living. To the bone, we thin out and our hollow tummies bloat. Food and water is essential, but what good is it when we feast and drink from polluted streams and rotting gardens? Let's turn to John 4, where Jesus visits a Samaritan woman and a well.

Imagine drawing up water from a well and the Son of God sits beside you and asks you for a drink? My response would be serving Him the best water I have in the best glass while serving it in the most loving way possible. But here when the woman asks why a Jew asks a Samaritan (which is something that never happened) for water, Jesus doesn't reply with 'because I am actually the Son of God and I deserve some water'. No.

Jesus says, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and Who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you living water," (John 4:10).

Wow. We really serve a humble and loving God. This is such a profound statement. You and I are sinners that don't deserve living water. But here is God that is physically thirsty, but desires to give us living water that satisfies every thirst and lasts eternally instead. That is one amazing gift and He offers it to us freely. We don't need a rope or bucket to find this water. All we need is Him - Jesus. He is our living water!

"Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never become thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life," (John 4:14).

Friends, God didn't come to this world to save us from our sins so that His name sits on a pedestal for the world to see. God came because the only way to save us was for Him to physically die for our sins - Him taking our punishment - and then showing us a way of life through Him. And what we see through His death is His undeserving love and mercy freely given, not a proud God trying to win us over. We only need to drink from His living well, for ourselves, to know that He alone satisfies and quenches every thirst we have.

John 6 reveals this exactly. Jesus feeds five thousand people from five barley loaves and two fish (6:9). Jesus here performs a miracle by giving thanks to God and satisfying the hunger of five thousand people and still having leftovers, filling up twelve baskets worth (6:12). The next day, Jesus reveals what is more precious and life-fulfilling than bread and fish. "I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty... For it is my Father's will that all who see His Son and believe in Him should have eternal life," (6:35; 40). Jesus reveals that He is the Son of God by feeding five thousand people. He then proceeds to say that by believing in Him we are eternally satisfied and will never die! And people still cannot see... why? Because they do not taste the living bread and they do not see the living water in which Jesus gave.

The bread Jesus offers is His flesh. His body broken for you and I. But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed, (Isaiah 53:5). The drink Jesus offers is His blood. His blood poured out as a holy sacrifice for you and I. This cup is the new covenant between God and His people - an agreement confirmed with My blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you, (Luke 22:20). Jesus, the Messiah, satisfies every hunger and thirst through an everlasting covenant He made by giving up His life as an offering for our sin. He then resurrected from the grave for He overcame death and announced victory for all who believe and see that He is the Son of GOD! Hallelujah! Praise be to the most glorious and loving God we serve!

Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in Me, and I in him. John 6:56

So my dear brothers and sisters, come to the Lord. Seek His face wholeheartedly and taste the sweet and satisfying meal He offers. This meal nourishes every part of you, it heals every kind of wound and it cleanses every impurity that keeps you from seeing the fullness of God. God has prepared a seat for you at His table that no one else can take and He awaits your presence with Him. For when we trust in Him, we lack no good thing (Psalm 34:10).

Every desire and longing we have, He has fulfilled. Jesus is everything we ever need. His sanctuary is where we find His presence and He has made our hearts His sanctuary. We meet the Lord everyday by seeking His loving face and pursuing His heart. We overflow with His love for He has poured out His life within us. He has hung every fear, insecurity, punishment and hate on the Cross and He has set us free by His resurrecting power, the Holy Spirit, that has birthed in us a new and righteous everlasting life sealed as One with Him!

You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honour me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Psalm 23:5

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, 

but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

I encourage you today to take Communion and just thank God for what He has done and so lovingly given to us. For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until He comes again. 1 Corinthians 11:26. God Bless you all!