Taste and See

One morning this summer as I stepped across the threshold of a bed and breakfast, I was greeted by the delightful yeasty aroma of warm gooey made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls.  Seeing the thick creamy white frosting on top of the spicy brown bread made them even more inviting.  I knew I was going to enjoy them, and I couldn’t wait to share them with my equally excited children.

There was just one problem: my son is two.

He eyed this delectable dish, didn’t recognize it, and promptly decided he was NOT going to try it.  Imagine having to persuade, cajole, and finally command this small child to eat ONE bite of the sweet cinnamon roll.  I just had to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

And then it hit me.  How often does God offer us an equally exquisite gift, but we fail to recognize its goodness.  He wants the best for us, offers the best to us, and we flatly refuse to enter into his plans.  We, in our “infinitely wise” bout of being a spiritual toddler fail to see or to understand that God’s plans are for our good.

How often life presents us with situations in which we cannot understand the whole picture.  My four‑year‑old is struggling with the idea that even though God is good and powerful, sometimes things happen to us that we do not perceive as good.  Often and again we come back to this, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.”  And why? Because his ways are higher than our ways.  We are not commanded to understand (see Proverbs 3:5), but we are indeed instructed to trust.

In the end, my son had to trust that I had his best interest in mind by commanding him to try the cinnamon roll.  And he had to obey, even though his own inclination was to turn away. 

Far better than cinnamon rolls, infinitely beyond the best food ever prepared, is our God.  He will never disappoint, and he can be utterly trusted.

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”