Developing an appetite for God

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” Psalm 34:8

Ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve, people have struggled with shame. Just as Adam’s and Eve’s shame distorted their view of God (Genesis 3:1-10), many people today have many shame-based concepts about God. According to Sandra D. Wilson, in her book Released from Shame (pp. 142-143), these misconceptions about God often originate from our family of origin. We think that God will resemble our parents or authority figures from our childhood (cf. Psalm 50:21).

For example, those whose parents were rigid and perfectionistic may perceive God to be very demanding and unforgiving. No matter how hard they try, they can never measure up to this distorted view of God who does not forgive nor forget their sins. When they fail, watch out! His cruel side is manifested. He seems to delight in sending financial disaster or physical disease to emphasize His intolerance of their spiritual failures. Understandably, it is difficult for them to approach this kind of deity and experience His forgiveness and love.

God wants to replace our distorted views of Him with the truth. For example, in Psalm 34:8, the Psalmist invites his readers to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” The word “taste” refers to examining something by tasting it. We are to examine who God is and perceive (“see”) that He is “good.” The word “good” in this context refers to something that is pleasant or agreeable to the senses like a freshly baked pie or the warmth of a fireplace on a cold winter day.

The more we know the God of the Bible and experience that He is good, the more “blessed” or fortunate we will be as we learn to “trust” or seek refuge in Him. The Lord wants us to experience that He is a God who pardons, not punishes (Psalm 103:8-10). He is merciful, not merciless (Psalm 103:11-14). He is a God of compassion, not condemnation (John 3:17). He is gentle, not harsh (Matthew 11:29). He loves us as we are (Romans 5:6, 8).

When we begin to perceive who God truly is, our appetite for Him will increase exponentially. Like the apostle Peter says, As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (I Peter 2:2-3). Our appetite for God and His Word will greatly increase “if” we have “tasted” or experienced “that the Lord is gracious.” If we have lost our appetite for God and His Word, it is probably because we have lost sight of the goodness and graciousness of Jesus Christ. God’s goodness and grace can be seen in His sacrifice on the cross. God gave Himself for you and me, so He could have a love relationship with us. God’s grace means giving your absolute best to someone who deserves your absolute worst. Christ forgives us of things that other people will hold against us until they go to their graves. That is goodness and grace!

Our appetite for God and His Word hinges on our taste of His goodness to us in Christ. If you perceive God to be a harsh, critical, and angry God, you are not going to want to hear what He has to say. You will not want to open His Word. It is easy for us to see God as an unkind Person when we experience suffering. But God is not to blame for the bad things that happen to us. God’s creation was completely “good” when He made it (Genesis 1), but it became contaminated by sin when people disobeyed Him (Genesis 3). Therefore, much of the world is not good because people are not good.

But the goodness and grace of God can be seen when He takes the bad things that happen to us and brings eternal good out of them. For example, I have been ministering at a provincial jail for the last five years in the Philippines. Many of the inmates there have testified how thankful they are for their incarceration because God used those tough times to expose them to the gospel and eventually opened their hearts to believe in Jesus.

Have you lost your appetite for God and His Word? Activate it by laying aside misconceptions of God and then focus on the unlimited goodness and grace of God through Jesus Christ! When we experience that “the Lord is good” and “gracious,” our appetite for Him and His Word will resemble that of a newborn baby who longs for its milk.