Condiments, Columbian Ants and Tasting God

I've been spending a lot of time in Psalm 34 over the last few weeks so one chapter in A.W. Tozer's book 'The Pursuit of God' really jumped out to me this morning. The chapter was centred around the astounding verse eight: 'O taste and see.' In it, he starts by describing three notions that people have about God; it's massively insightful stuff:


The first notion

"To most people God is an inference, not a reality. He is a deduction from evidence which they consider adequate, but He remains personally unknown to the individual. 'He must be,' they say, 'therefore we believe He is.'"

The second notion

"Others' do not go even so far as this; they know of Him only by hearsay. They have never bothered to think the matter out for themselves, but have heard about Him from others, and have put belief in Him into the back of their minds along with various odds and ends that make up their total creed."

The third notion

"To many others, God is but an ideal, another name for goodness, or beauty, or truth; or He is law, or life, or the creative impulse behind the phenomena of existence.

These notions about God are many and varied, but they who hold them have one thing in common: they do not know God in personal experience. The possibility of intimate acquaintance with Him has not entered their minds."

He goes on to say that in Christianity, things are different. Throughout the Bible there is a consistent theme of the personality and fatherhood of God that carry with them the idea of the possibility of personal acquaintance. But Tozer doesn't pull any punches...

"...but for millions of Christians, nevertheless, God is no more real than He is to the non-Christian. They go through life trying to love an ideal and be loyal to a mere principle."

This kind of situation completely stands against the regularity and clarity of verses in the Bible that tell us that God can be known in personal experience. I love it that we are encouraged to 'taste and see' God, but to be honest, just knowing that something can be tasted isn't usually enough to make me want to! I've eaten quite a lot of things at a dare; concoctions of condiments or Columbian warrior ants, but there are plenty of things that I know can be tasted that I would leave well alone.




The good news is there's more to Psalm 34:8 than I've quoted so far: 'O taste and see... that the Lord is good!' 


We're not dared to experience God (or warned that it might happen when we least expect it) we are encouraged to know Him tangibly, just because He is good.


My next post will be looking at how Tozer develops his point!

My Bobble

We all know the feeling. The gift that has been sat smugly under the tree, is finally in your hand. It knows that you don't have a clue what it is, and it knows that it's better than all the others. You open it a little quicker than your other presents and then pause as it takes a good few seconds for your brain to work out what you're holding. Suddenly the excitement kicks in as you realise that this little thing is going to change your life - it definitely would have been top of your Christmas list if you had known it existed!

Meet Bobble. Pictured here next to my Danger Mouse mug, this was that life-changing gift for me. Having watched me carry a big bottle of water to work for the last six months, my wife had spotted this strange invention that would filter the 300 year-old water of Cedar House as I drank it. My bag was suddenly a litre lighter when walking to work and I had a spring in my step. 

It's not really left my side since I first tore open the paper. It's perfect for sipping whilst lying in bed (not dissimilar to a hamster bottle in the way it doesn't drip much when held above the face) and also looks great on my office desk. 

I've taken a while to get to the point. Though I really like the product, how ridiculous would it be if I showed this bottle more affection and appreciation than I do the person who gave it to me? How foolish and despicable would I be to value my bobble more than I value my wife? 

How laughable to love the gift more than the giver?!

And yet this is what we do all the time. Families, jobs, health, gadgets... all good things and yet how often are they higher on our priority list than than the person who gave them to us? How often are they more on our minds? How much time and energy do we spend running after getting more of these things compared with seeking more of God Himself?

Last Sunday Andy Tilsley preached at Crown, highlighting the humility, persistence and boldness of Moses in Exodus 33. Even after God had promised His guidance and blessing, Moses continued to knock and wrestle; the gifts were good, but he wanted more of the Giver. "Show me Your glory!" 

After Terry Virgo's message last month, I felt a new passion to get to know God better. A few weeks later, Andy hits us with another beautiful challenge along the same lines. We have permission to fight for this; let's persist in seeking more of God's presence, individually and as a church.