Focus: Experiencing God

Text: Num.11:4

"And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the TASTE of it was as the TASTE of oil."

In John 17:24, the Lord Jesus Christ said to the Father, "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory…" Christ prays for His own disciples to be with Him, and He gives the reason for it, which is for them to BEHOLD His glory. 

The Greek word for 'behold' is theōreō. Our English word 'theory' stems from it. What this means is that theory concerning God, for an Israelite, is born out of experience or encounter with God. 

No one can form or formulate a theory of God without knowing or experiencing God.

It is very unfortunate that people talk about God without knowing God personally and intimately. People have learned and gathered plenty theory about God, but they have yet to encounter God in their lives. They cannot boldly declare like Moses, that the God of the Hebrews has met with us. They are like the sons of Sceva who tried to cast out demons in the name of Jesus Christ whom Paul preached. They didn't have any personal encounter or intimate relationship with Christ. Charles F. Banning aptly said, "Too many of us have a Christian vocabulary rather than a Christian experience." 

Truly, nothing can take the place of personal experience and intimacy with God. The God we see we seize. It is the God we behold that we tend to lay hold of.

The psalmist declares, "O TASTE and SEE that the LORD is good…" (Ps.34:8). The psalmist implores us to taste and see that YHVH is good. Peter calls upon us to taste and see that Adonai is gracious. Again the psalmist tells us, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Ps.119:103). We experience God through His word. Tasting is the same as knowing and experiencing.

It was when the Israelites tasted the manna that they discovered that it had the taste of fresh oil. Moses said, "And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the TASTE of it was like wafers made with honey" (Ex.16:31). 

It is only when you have seen and tasted something that you can adequately and confidently describe it.

After the master of ceremony tasted the water turned into wine by Christ, he said, "Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now" (Jh.2:9,10). The wine of Christ is still available for us to taste. 

The wine of Christ produces in us the unspeakable joy of the Spirit.

On the day of Pentecost the disciples tasted the wine of the Spirit, and the people observed and accused them of being drunk, but Peter said in essence, 'This is the Spirit! This is Joel's prophecy coming to pass in our lives. The writer of Hebrews talked about "those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come" (Heb.6:4,5). 

Jonathan said to the people, "My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I TASTED a little of this honey" (1Sam.14:29). We read in the Song of Solomon, "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste" (Song of Sol.2:3). 

It's about time we sat under the shadow or shade of Christ and discover for ourselves how tasteful and delicious the fruits of intimacy with God could be! We all need a personal and intimate experience of God, not just a secondhand revelation of Him. By constant prayer, diligent study of the Bible, and deep spiritual meditation we can come to know God for ourselves.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter