From the Inside Out

Years ago my pastor-husband and I were invited to dinner by a refugee family who’d emigrated from Vietnam to our community. Our church had sponsored the couple and their children, helping them establish a new life. The dinner expressed their gratitude.

Not long after our arrival, the wife served us the first course, soup. To understand what happened next, you have to know I was pregnant at the time and just recovering from several months of nausea.

Try to imagine the roll of my stomach as I peered into the bowl to find, floating among the vegetables, a two-inch, whole squid. His gelatinous, limp body (never mind the tangle of tentacles) nearly had me lurching for the bathroom.

Not to eat it, of course, would be a terrible faux pax. I’ll just cut it into tiny bites, I thought, eat each piece with one of the crunchy vegetables and camouflage whatever the texture and flavor might be.

But my spoon couldn’t even make a dent in the squid and there was no knife. My stomach reeled again, just from the effort of trying to cut through the tough, rubbery cephalopod. Now what?

Just then the host explained, “It is tradition to give an honored guest a whole squid.” And he smiled expectantly. His eyes seemed to say, “Try it! You’ll like it!”

I had no choice. The squid must be eaten. And I couldn’t very well swallow it whole or I’d surely choke. While my stomach threatened revenge, I spooned it up, wrapped my reluctant lips around it, and began to chew. What a glorious relief to discover: squid tastes much like shrimp!

Now all these decades later squid swim in the mainstream of culinary fare—as calamari. If you haven’t ever ordered it, try it! You’ll like it!

One of the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah, spoke similar words to the people of Judah. Only he wasn’t offering them the goodness of a new food; he was offering them the goodness of God.

“Listen, listen to me,” Isaiah pleaded. “Eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare” (Isaiah 55:2 NIV).

And what might “the richest of fare” include?

God’s direction, peace, and forgiveness, compassion, wisdom, and benevolence—the expression of all his magnificent attributes. He is good in countless ways. But unless we “eat what is good” and experience God for ourselves, we never realize how wonderful he is and the countless spiritual delights he offers.

“Wait a minute,” someone will say. “Sure, it’s easy to celebrate God’s goodness when life is sweet. But where’s his goodness when trouble strikes?”

Meet Tudiose who spent ten years in a Romanian, Communist prison and work camp. He described them as the best years of his life because he never felt closer to God than during that time.[1]

Meet Jennifer whose hands and feet had to be amputated after a toxic infection. Even so her positive attitude persists. “I wouldn’t change it,” she declares. “I honestly feel there is a reason for it.” Part of that reason: Jennifer established the P.L.A.Y. Foundation to help young amputees. Her sense of humor also remains intact. She calls her prosthetic legs Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (famous dancers of the 1930s).[2]

Meet Paul, a doctor who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease at age 37. As his body betrayed him, Paul wrote meditations on God’s truth and lessons he was learning about suffering, including this statement: “Anything that God permits to happen to us in this life, whether good or bad, that better prepares us to meet him as we approach the threshold of eternity, can only be interpreted as grace on his part.”[3]

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Lord, I am put to shame by the testimonies of these saints and others. I can lose my joy over such inconsequential matters. Help me look for the richest of fare that you offer, those spiritual pleasures that enthrall and satisfy —no matter the circumstances.

[1] Kay Arthur, His Imprint, My Expression, 137.

[2] Karol Ladd, Thrive, Don’t Simply Survive, 23-24.

[3] Ladd, 71-72.

Art & photo credits: http://www.rawpixel.com; http://www.pixabay.com; http://www.flickr.com; http://www.canva.com (2); http://www.piqsels.com.

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