Taste and See

One evening a few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to have dinner with a couple from church. From the very first time we met them, our 2 year old, Chloe, has called them “Grandma” and “Poppy.” Of course we aren’t related, but Chloe knows grandparents when she sees them. At first we all thought it was cute, so we never bothered to correct her. But now we’ve all come to accept what Chloe could see all along.

Like most grandfathers, Poppy is adept at switching hats between wise old sage and walking entertainment center. After dinner, he was doing a little bit of both as he took the kids off to his workshop to train them in the art of woodworking. Within only a few seconds, my two older children, Hailey and Toby, were captivated and their imaginations were in overdrive. Chloe wasn’t as impressed. She didn’t come for wood, but for the trees. She came to explore.

As she searched through the “jungles” of our friends’ backyard, she stumbled upon a treasure, a fountain of cool, clear water springing forth from the very ground. To the trained eye, it was easy to see that a sprinkler head had broken off. But through the eyes of a two-year old, it was nothing short of a miracle, a gift from God providing refreshment and retreat from the long summer day.

By the time her discovery was made known to the rest of us, her clothes were soaked. My first inclination was to reprimand her, but then God allowed me to look past the circumstances and see the heart of a little girl acting in innocence, a little girl simply being who she is, a child. We just watched her, delighting in the moment, tasting the goodness, finding refuge from the heat of the sun in the coolness of the flow, and allowing it to quench her thirst. She invited us all to do the same. Her request wasn’t long or eloquent, but the message was conveyed just the same. She merely said, “Come, it’s good.”

In John 7:37, Jesus extends an invitation of his own. He says, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” He offered, and continues to offer “Living Water.” And yet in the course of this life, we continuously reject His offer and search to gratify our thirsts in the cisterns and wells of our own doing, in the stagnant pools of idleness, and in the murky, mud stained waters of sin. But in the Psalms, David encourages us to do more. He says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him… Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Oh, that we would hear the testimony of the Psalmist, that we might heed the plea of our Savior. May we listen to His voice, and truly see what He has done for us. I pray that we might come into His presence, that we might come thirsty, and drinking deeply, be satisfied in Him.