God-given Senses
by Peter Brokaar
Recently I’ve started to take more regular short walks throughout the day. It’s a great habit to get into and I’m very happy with it! On one of these walks down the Blairmore drive I was suddenly struck by the joyful sound of birds singing all around me. I took a moment to take it in and just felt really lifted. We’re truly blessed at Blairmore with the lovely surroundings as they lend themselves so well to taking in the beauty of God’s creation.
My understanding is that the Lord gave us our senses so we could appreciate and interact with the world He put us in. When we’re outdoors we might feel the wind on our face, listen to a running river, taste forest fruits, smell the fragrance of the country or look around and enjoy beauty. Likewise, when we’re indoors, there’s all manner of lovely things to take in and enjoy; perhaps the smell of a cake in the oven or music on the stereo. When we do stop and think, it really helps us being thankful to God for our physical senses. Isn’t it wonderful that we can enjoy all of these things He gave us?
But of course, we’re much more than just a body and there’s even more to take in than only that which we can take in through our physical senses. We all have a human spirit and guess what? We also have spiritual senses!
The Bible says we can taste spiritual things: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34:8). Scripture mentions being able to listen with our spirit so we can hear what the Lord is saying to us (Revelation 2:7). At times, we can see spiritual things (Acts 10:11). There’s such a thing as a spiritual fragrance (2 Corinthians 2:15), and, of course, we can sense or touch God’s presence (2 Corinthians 1:4).
Just as our physical senses are God’s gift to us to be able to enjoy and interact with the material world, so we have spiritual senses to be able to interact with and receive from the Lord. He has so many good things for us. But that time when I stopped to hear the birds I realised that many other times I ignore what’s going on around me and probably miss out on a lot of that goodness. I wonder if that’s also true for us spiritually?
I think we could probably receive much more of God’s goodness if we took time to exercise and develop our spiritual senses, so we could receive from Him all the love, comfort and nurture that He wants to give us. May the Lord be kind to us and unblock our spiritual noses, eyes and ears so we can receive more freely from Him and feel more alive in every way.
Prayer: Father in heaven, I thank You for all my physical senses and I ask You to help me with enjoying these in a godly way. But I also want to thank You for my human spirit and the ability that You’ve given me to receive from You. Please help me and awaken my spiritual senses to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Peter Brokaar is Director of Ellel Ministries Scotland and has been there together with his wife Liz since 2005. They have 3 kids, all born in Scotland! In his free time he likes reading, cooking, running and surfing. Being at Ellel Scotland has given him the privilege of getting to know God deeper and sharing that joy with many others.
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