One taste is never enough . . .

Many women crave chocolate. I’ve read that this is really a craving for the magnesium in chocolate, but most of us chocolate lovers are not going to take a magnesium supplement to find out if that is true. The trouble with chocolate is overload. I want to eat the entire package. My daughter practices good self-control by eating one a day from a small bag of small, rich chocolates. I practice self-control by not having any in the house.

There is one craving that the Bible encourages. It also is never satisfied, at least not for long . . .

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.” (Psalm 63:1–4)

Tozer writes with eloquence, “To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.”

God’s delights are so vast that even a rich taste is never enough. That taste only reveals that there is more, and more, and more. We have not yet seen the fullness of His power. We have not yet experienced His full glory. His love is vast but our knowledge of it is smaller first hand than the magnificent biblical descriptions. The best we can see is Jesus Christ on the cross, loving so much that He took our sin that we might have His righteousness, yet my brain hurts trying to grasp that love.

Tozer points to the filling of the Holy Spirit who sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts. Made in God’s image, we can be restored to that image (which was marred by sin) so our love can be a tiny bit like His, not only in receiving it (like a perfect chocolate) but in passing it on to others in sweet sacrifice.

Tozer’s description is practical, the daily stuff of what it means to hunger and thirst for God, finding Him and being satisfied, then craving Him even more. His love pours in — and it pours out as Tozer describes: “Each of the fruits of the Spirit is but a phase of love. Joy is love exulting; peace is love reposing; patience is love enduring; goodness is the good manners of love; kindness is love in action; faithfulness is love confiding; gentleness is love yielding; and self-control is true self-love.”

^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, I understand the craving and the taste of You that satisfies for a brief time leading to more craving. I also realize there will be a day when I can dive right in, draw love from You never-ending and with eternal satisfaction. This thought and Your promises wonderfully fuel that longing for more of You.