“Taste and see that the Lord [alone] is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”—Psalm 34:8
As a creature of habit, when it was time to buy carrots, my go-to had been the big bag of organic minis. The package promised that they hadn’t been washed in bleach, which is always a good thing. Carrots are really good for you. And you can’t get more convenient for snacking and stir fry than minis.
Until one day, the store was out of minis. The only other organic choice was a bag of the kind Bugs Bunny would chomp on. Carrots are carrots, right? Until I took a bite, and everything changed. The texture was like the root veggie it was supposed to be, and the taste was nothing like those minis—there was almost a hint of clove. A sweetness but not sweet. Earthy but without the dirt. I was in love.
On another day and another trip to the store, the packages of minis were back. (Did I mention I am a creature of habit?) And when I got home and grabbed a few to go with a sandwich, an awakening: Convenient maybe, but compared to the bigger versions, the minis had no taste. And maybe they weren’t washed with bleach but my tastebuds clearly detected that they had been washed in…something. The bigger ones tasted like somebody’s garden. I had tasted and seen what was good, and this wasn’t it…
I hope that we are in a Bugs Bunny carrot season right now. All around, it seems to our natural eyes that chaos, confusion and evil are not only on the rampage but are winning. Which is not true, of course…
“God’s plans are made on the basis of His complete knowledge and control, which extends to all things past, present and future, that there can be no sudden emergencies or unlooked-for developments to take Him by surprise.”
—J.I. Packer
In the process of our crazy days, though, God has been more than just in control. It seems He is driving millions of believers like me away from the comfort and relative ease of mini-carrots discipleship and to our knees in prayer and to our feet in fervent worship, and service, and determination to walk out the Greatest Commandment as never before. It is an entirely organic season, raw and one both desiring and requiring deep roots. And what the enemy has meant for evil, God is turning for good in His Church, if we will only stay the course. Because with our backs to the wall in a pandemic and national upheaval, it seems He is removing the taste for the convenient way of walking the Walk and anything with artificial flavoring and content and replacing it with the raw power of the real deal, the pure Gospel.
We cannot gather (yet) as we once did, yet He has been stirring us to press in as never before wherever we are. We have become more aware of those in need, and online prayer chains are more active than ever. The preaching of the Word has become more passionate, and much more vertical and much less horizontal. And much of what we thought was necessary to “do” church? And the undercurrent of a gospel that was often “all about me”? These have been exposed as inconsequential and like the bag of mini-carrots are leaving a funny taste in our mouth.
We’ve been experiencing the fullness of Psalm 34:8 because we’re tasting and seeing in a revived, awakened sense, that the Lord alone—the Maker of heaven and earth and all that is in it, and the omniscient, all-knowing One alone, and no man or a human system—is our true refuge. Our true safety and shelter from danger or trouble, the unshakable rock of our faith and source of our trust who has never failed and never will.
“It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.”—Psalm 118:8-9
Hopefully, there will be no going back. Because in the end, in these days of the real deal, it's becoming clear that only the big bag of carrots will do…
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