I’ve Tasted & I’ve Seen

I absolutely love traveling. Do I always have the funds or the time to? No, of course not, but it is one of my favorite things to do. There is just something about being in a new city, state, or country that just makes me feel as though I’m truly living my best life. Outside of experiencing a new environment I get to try new restaurants with amazing food. Now sis, I am a foodie- a cute aesthetic, good music, and food? You do not have to worry about me, I am IN THERE! Now, if I’m somewhere new and I have been introduced to an experience or a taste that has made me feel good- at that moment it isn’t a problem.  But  as soon as I get home and start to crave the meal, the experience, the thing that is no longer within my reach…we have a problem. 

I’m sure you can pinpoint a moment that you were introduced to something that eventually became the very thing that your body would begin to crave. Which made me ask a question about the science behind this phenomenon: How is it that we can indulge in something, even someone, ONE TIME and now in moments of sadness, grief, anger, happiness, joy, excitement, we begin to have an “itch” that we will go great lengths to scratch? Well, your girl had to get into her Psychology bag for a quick moment and do some research (probably the first time I’ve applied my degree since I graduated). What I discovered is that when we eat or experience something, a chemical in our brain (dopamine) sends messages to other nerves and basically says, “Aye, this right here, we like this!” which results in a positive emotion that is linked with whatever triggered the chemical to be released.

Now, whenever we want to experience that positive emotion we connect it to the very thing we indulged in. So what I thought was just a random thing, actually involves brain messages, behaviors that become habits over time, and having easy access to the thing we desire. 

I know you weren’t expecting a breakdown of the brain, but I couldn’t help but to think of the scripture found in Psalms and 1 Peter. “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). I have heard it in songs, I have heard it preached on, I too have said it often. But why this analogy? Why would we refer to an understanding of God by saying we have tasted Him, that we have seen Him? I believe what David and Peter knew is that there is a desperation that takes place when you begin to delight in the Lord. It just takes one taste, it takes just one encounter, one word spoken, one miracle, one answered prayer and you begin to crave and desire God. This is a personal encounter though, one can share about the goodness of God, but until there is an experience personally you will not understand the depths of who He is. I myself was challenged to write on this topic because like anything good that you have tried, you want everyone else to experience it as well.

I have tasted and seen a God who is faithful, merciful, forgiving, loving, and so much more. I crave Him, I crave His presence, I have a desire to fulfill the hole in my body with His very being. For so long I would keep trying other things to “fulfill” the cravings I had. I knew I had tasted love before so I looked for it in the relationship, I knew I had tasted happiness before so I kept going out, I had memories of experiencing all of these emotions, but I constantly found myself running to sources that could never satisfy my needs. Like the woman at the well, I was thirsty and maybe today you are too. and just like her you keep returning to a source that could supply your need, but is not built to sustain it. Baby the well you are sipping from, will run out, but the desire and the craving will not. Jesus told her “I AM the living water, if you drink from me you will never thirst again, the water I give will become in him a spring of water [Satisfying his thirst for God]” (John 4:14). One taste, one encounter, and this woman was changed for the rest of Her life. The very thing that she craved now dwelled within her. The very same is for you and me. The God who picked me up out of my Sin and placed me in promise is the same God who met a woman living in sin at a well, and is the same God who wants to meet you too. All it took was a taste, all it took was for me to see His goodness and now I am on a mission to let every human know that what you are looking for can be found in Christ alone. 

Come taste and see a love that never runs out, a well that never runs dry.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good, Oh the joys of those who take refuge in him.”

Psalm 34:8

“Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lords kindness.”

1 Peter 2:2-3

“Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

John 4:13-14