Saturday, January 23, 2016 [Psalm 34:6-8 NIV]
This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
A story is told about a young man that was invited to preach at a gathering of pastors and ministry leaders. This young man was a scholar, professionally trained at some of the world's top seminaries and Bible schools. He was a very gifted thinker and speaker. However, his message was troublesome to the audience. This young man spoke about the questions and difficulties that the biblical text posed. In all of his learning he had grown skeptical of things like Noah and the ark, Moses' parting of the Red Sea, and the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. "Gentlemen," the young man exclaimed, "I'm simply not convinced that we have gotten it right."
During the questions and answers portion of the young man's talk, several pastors got up and challenged him. For every challenge this brilliant young man had an answer and all of the pastors sat down dismayed - all except one. He was an older man, clearly in the latter part of his years. He stood up, reached into his brown paper lunch bag, pulled out an apple, and took a bite. "Young man," said the apple-chewing pastor, "You're very brilliant and have brought up a lot of questions for us. I'd like to ask you one, though. What does this apple taste like?" The scholar looked puzzled, thought for a moment and answered, "Sir, there is no way for me to know that." The old pastor replied, "Exactly, unless you take a bite out of this apple like I did, you'll never know what it tastes like. You can question it, speculate about it, compare it to other apples, but you'll never know until you taste it. Son, you know a lot of good information, but I think it's time you tasted Jesus."
Skeptics are real and have real questions. Many of us who follow Jesus today were skeptics at one time in our journey. In fact, we still have a few questions lingering. But, if you you check your testimonies, many of you will find that there was a moment in your life when you tasted Jesus - a time when He met you right where you were and poured out His love on you in a powerful way. This encounter happened because you decided to take a bite and taste. We will never have all the answers to all of the questions that we have about God until we meet Him face to face. However, there's not a skeptic in this world that can tell me what I felt like when Jesus first met me… when He saved me from destroying myself… when He comforted me at my lowest moments… You can strip everything else away from me, but no one can strip me of my history with Jesus.
He invited me to trust Him. And in the moments that I accepted His invitation He NEVER failed me. No, every situation didn't turn out like I wanted it to. Loved ones passed away, opportunities I wanted faded into the background. But, I feel like the songwriter that wrote:
As I look back over my lifeAnd I think things overI can truly say that I've been blessedI've got a testimony!
Father, we don't have all of the answers, but please grant us the courage and strength to trust You anyway. In Jesus' Name...Amen.
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