“If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” –1 Peter 2:3
For the apostle Peter tasting of the Lord’s goodness means that we will crave the pure spiritual milk of the word of God. But what happens when the Word doesn’t taste sweet to me? What happens if the Lord doesn’t taste good? What does this mean of my heart?
5 Possibilities
- I’m not born again. Unless a man is born again the Lord will not be sweet to him. It is only by our having been made alive by the Word of God that we’ll value and treasure that Word. If the Lord doesn’t taste good it might mean that I’m an unbeliever.
- My mouth is too full with other things. If I’m chewing on an old shoe at the same time that I’m eating a piece of chocolate, that chocolate will lose a good amount of its luster. In the same way, if I’ve got my mind and heart distracted with other things, I won’t be able to taste the goodness of the Lord as well.
- You’re eating too fast. It doesn’t matter how tasty the food is, if I just let it slide down my gullet without chewing I’m not going to savor it. At times we aren’t tasting the goodness of the Lord because we aren’t willing to chew for a season. We’d do well to slow down and really wrestle with God’s Word.
- Your taste buds aren’t fully developed. No matter how much I try to convince him, there are certain foods that I cannot get my son to eat. He has under-developed taste buds and so what I taste as sweet savory goodness he believes is comparable to a burrito scraped off the bottom of the trash can. At times we aren’t able to taste the Lord’s goodness in Scripture because our taste buds aren’t yet developed.
- Your taste buds are sick. Never drink Lemon-lime Gatorade after brushing your teeth. And never spend your money on Red Lobster when you have a terrible cold. Your taste buds are jacked up and so even the best tasting off foods will be bland. Sometimes our spiritual taste buds are clouded by things like illness and depression.
I’m sure there are more possibilities but these are five that I see. No matter the reason for our taste buds let us repent where repentance is necessary and pray that the Lord would help us to see and savor Him in His Word.
Perhaps you are in a season where you need to simply hold on to the Lord until a new season emerges. Or perhaps you need to repent and unplug from a mouth full of other things. Likely it’s a combination of things. Bid the Lord to give you taste buds that delight in Him and crave Him as we ought.
