What does God’s Word taste like to you?
That may seem like an odd question, but the theme of God’s Word as spiritual food is all over the Bible. Just like physical food, God’s Word gives us life and satisfaction. Jesus said we can’t live on bread alone but need the words of God (Matt. 4:4). Jeremiah said he ate God’s words and they brought joy and delight to his heart (Jer. 15:16). Isaiah described God’s Word as a feast, and David celebrated God’s words as sweeter than honey.
What about you? Does Scripture taste sweet to you, or do the words turn sour in your mouth? Maybe you don’t feel hungry for God’s Word at all. If you long for the abundance and delight that God’s Word promises, but still feel dissatisfied, there is hope. Much like we develop our taste for certain foods, with God’s help, we can develop a taste for God’s Word.
When You Don’t Have an Appetite for God’s Word
Maybe your problem isn’t that you don’t enjoy Scripture but that you’re not consuming it at all. You don’t crave Scripture, and maybe you think you don’t need it. If you don’t have an appetite for God’s Word, start reading anyway.
If you don’t have an appetite for God’s Word, start reading anyway.
If you’re not hungry for God’s Word, it’s not because you don’t need it. Have you ever noticed that if you go long enough without eating, you stop feeling hungry? You may notice other signs you need food—low energy, a headache, irritability, feeling lightheaded—but it’s easy to forget that the symptoms are due to a lack of fuel when you don’t feel hungry. It isn’t until you take a bite that your stomach wakes and you realize just how hungry you are.
If you take an honest look at your heart, you may see the side effects of spiritual malnourishment. Instead of a headache, you might find discontentment, impatience, or unkindness. If that’s you, take a bite! Start reading God’s Word even if you don’t feel like it, and ask God to awaken in you a hunger for his satisfying Word.
When God’s Word Tastes Bland
Maybe you read the Bible every once in a while, but it feels boring. Don’t stop if it doesn’t feel interesting. Keep reading. You may have heard that it takes 10–20 times of tasting a food you don’t like to develop a taste for it. Likewise, you won’t necessarily love the Bible the first time you open it.
Commit to a consistent habit of Bible reading, even five minutes a day. The Bible gets more exciting over time as you begin to recognize the overarching story it tells and how every book points to Christ.
When God’s Word Feels like a Bitter Pill
Scripture doesn’t always go down easy. It convicts us, challenges us, and calls us to turn from things we don’t want to give up.
When reading God’s Word feels like choking down a horse pill, meditate on God’s character. As you read the Bible, ask yourself, What does this text show me about who God is? The difficult commands are easier to swallow when you receive them in the context of a relationship with a God who loves you and desires your good.
When God’s Word Tastes Sour
When you’re experiencing doubt, suffering, or disappointment, approaching God through his Word can be hard. Verses about trusting the Lord or rejoicing in all circumstances can taste sour. The temptation is to stop reading all together, but don’t close your Bible or your heart.
God invites us to pour out our hearts to him because he is a refuge for us (Ps. 62:8). So tell him how you’re hurting and questioning. Be honest about your anger and disappointment. He is a safe place. In these seasons, the psalms are a great place to land. In them, we find words for our feelings and examples of laying our hearts bare before the Lord.
When God’s Word Leaves You Hungry
Do you ever walk away from God’s Word feeling empty? You read the words, but they don’t make it into your heart, and you quickly forget them as you go about your day. God’s Word can leave us dissatisfied when we quickly gulp it down without really tasting it. Meditating on God’s Word allows us to chew on it, to savor it, and to open our hearts to its satisfying power.
And don’t stop there; pray God’s Word and pray in response to God’s Word. Scripture isn’t a collection of dry words on a page; it’s God’s Word spoken for us. So join the conversation by speaking back to him in prayer.
When God’s Word Tastes Sweet
By God’s grace, there will be times when Scripture tastes sweeter than honey in your mouth and you delight in God through his Word. When that happens, praise the Lord! Keep reading, keep studying, and keep seeking to know him even more.
Scripture isn’t a collection of dry words on a page; it’s God’s Word spoken for us.
But don’t keep it to yourself; share it with others. Invite someone to read Scripture with you—perhaps someone struggling to delight in it—and help her “taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps. 34:8).
No matter what Scripture tastes like to you, one of the most important things you can do is pray that God would satisfy you in it. You’re invited to the feast of Scripture, so listen diligently and delight yourself in the rich food of his Word (Isa. 55:2).
The Gospel Coalition