When You Feel God Is out of Reach
Do you ever feel like God is out of reach? Our hearts long to be near God, and the good news is, not only is God close, but He wants us to delight in the nourishment that comes from His Life in us. Check out Paul’s short video and find out how close God really is.
Taste. It's an unusual word to use when speaking of one's relationship to God, isn't it?
Taste is a word we would usually use when describing the process of eating and drinking. It is more associated with the dinner table than one’s experience of God. Taste takes us into the realm of ultimate personal experience.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Psalm 34:8 (NIV)
No one can taste for you, and not until you have bitten into that morsel of food and tasted it for yourself do you know the subtle delights of that particular food.
God uses this metaphor of eating, and drinking, and tasting many times throughout Scripture.
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” John 7:37b (NIV)
The Lord's decrees are “sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:10b (NIV)
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” Psalm 119:103 (NIV)
“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35 (NIV)
Wow. Those are pretty powerful verses. Tasting requires a closeness, a direct access to what you are going to eat. You must be able to put your hands on the food and bring it to your mouth, right? Well, for many people who fill our churches, God feels out of reach. They describe Him as “the Man upstairs” or “the Big Guy in the sky,” feeling like He is distant and remote.
Many of us may have gone to church for years, heard about God, sang about God, and admired God from a distance, but have gone away with our spirits starving, never having tasted, or even thought of tasting. Tasting of God and delighting in the nourishment that flows from His Life is an activation of our faith. We do this by living out of His Word, acting on the truth that Jesus Christ is alive and living in us.
Delight in the nourishment that flows from His Life.
He is your life, your strength, your wisdom. He is all you need in this moment. If you haven't already, I invite you to taste of God; partake of the Life of Jesus, and see that He is good. Discover for yourself that He is all satisfying and fulfilling. He's all sufficient to meet every need that you have today.
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