Tasty or not?

The above scripture holds some interesting ideas about what we might ‘taste’. Perhaps you might think of Psalm 119:103, ‘How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth’. But how can you taste these things? Clearly it isn’t the same physical sense with which I taste a sticky sugary doughnut, a fragrant crunchy apple, or a spoon of bitter medicine.

Often in scripture a physical analogy is used to explain a spiritual truth. In our physical bodies we have five amazing senses with which we understand and relate to the physical world, sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. These senses bring us information, warning, delight or even revulsion. These are physical senses, which inform us about the natural world, but could there be the equivalent spiritual senses which inform us of our spiritual situation rooted, not in our body, but in our human spirit? We have seen already a couple of verses about a spiritual sense of taste, but what do you think about the following verses?

Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God’ (Matthew 5:8). Paul tells the Corinthians about the spiritual ‘smell’ that people might discern, ‘To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life’ (2 Corinthians 2:16).

Jesus says, ‘My sheep hear my voice …’ (John 10:27). Peter inspires those he is writing to to desire the pure milk of the word, ‘… if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious’ (1 Peter 2:3). Lastly, when Saul was chosen as king by Samuel, in 1 Samuel 10:26, we read, ‘And Saul went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched’. Perhaps you can find some other references to spiritual senses. It makes an interesting Bible study.

In recent times many people have been suffering from COVID, and one of the recognised symptoms of this disease is a loss of taste and smell. Missing these two senses, even temporarily, impoverishes our lives and could even be dangerous. How would you detect that food was ‘off’, or that there was a life-threatening gas leak?

I wonder whether it is possible that some of us are suffering from an equivalent unrecognised disease affecting our human spirit, which has robbed us of an accurate spiritual sense of taste or smell. If so, then God and His truths would no longer ‘taste’ delightful and life-giving, as Psalm 119 tells us, but might seem tasteless or unpalatable and certainly not worth the effort of ‘chewing’. And what of the lack of ability to `smell` spiritually. I wonder if that would result in an inability to discern what is going on spiritually around us. In these difficult days, when God and His truths are being vilified by the world, these two senses, and all the others God has given us, seem to me to be vital for our spiritual awareness, nourishment, and wellbeing.

Jesus brings us the fullness of healing in every area of our lives. So today let’s ask Him to restore to us our full and active spiritual senses so we can enjoy, be informed, and be warned, not just physically, but spiritually.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You alone can heal my ailing human spirit, and today I ask You to reveal if my spiritual senses are dulled, distorted or lacking. I ask You to show me how or why my spirit is ailing, and I bring my need of healing for my human spirit to You. My desire is to be spiritually sentient in every way You intend me to be. Thank You for Your great love for me. Amen.