Fresh!

While I was continuing my study on the “new song” that God has placed in our mouths as stated in Psalms 40:3, I suddenly thought about the verses in Lamentations that declare that “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.”  (Lamentations 3:22-23 English Standard Version)  When I looked up the original meaning of the word “new” I discovered that it is defined as something that is “new, especially in freshness!” The idea of something that is “fresh” immediately got me to thinking about “fresh” fruits and vegetables.

That was one thing that we really missed when we lived in Oklahoma.  The fruits and vegetables in the grocery stores were just not as “fresh,” crisp and tasty as the one we get out here on the West Coast.  Another reason was probably because I grew up a little spoiled when it came to “fresh” fruits and vegetables, as my parents always had a summer and winter vegetable garden and almost all the trees in the yard were fruit trees!  At one point I remember counting up fourteen fruit trees between the front and back yards!  So from apples, to pears, to figs, to delicious Santa Rosa Plums, we enjoyed lots of “fresh” fruits throughout the summer and home grown canned fruits during the winter months.

One of the biggest shocks in my life came when I was invited over to my future wife’s family home for dinner when we were dating. That night I was introduced to canned spinach…  Have you ever eaten canned spinach?  I have to admit that I was quite taken back as I had never experienced it before.  The only store bought canned veggies that I can remember ever being in our house were canned green peas!  The canned spinach looked (and tasted to me) like green slime!  I had to giggle inside with understanding when I noticed Piper’s Dad pull out a bottle of mayonnaise from the refrigerator and spoon a big dab on his spinach!

Lamentations 3:22-23 describes God’s love and His mercies as being “fresh” to us on a daily basis.  They are not cooked and canned and left without any flavor or vitamins.  Each day we have the ability to go out and pick a “fresh” bundle of them from within the garden of His Word!  Once you have tasted fresh fruits and vegetables it is hard to settle for anything else again.  The same is true for the “freshness” of God’s Word, and the “fresher” the better!

It’s like the Red Delicious Apple tree that my folks once had.  I still can’t remember ever having tasted a sweeter apple than one of those picked “fresh” off the tree.  We’ve bought boxes of them hand-picked directly from some of the apple ranches in our county, but those were still a day or so old.  They were good, but not as good as the ones that went directly from the tree to my mouth!

That’s the way I like to partake of God’s Word.  It is hard for me to live on yesterday’s revelation or blessings.  They were great back then, but today is a “new” day and the Word tells us that His love, mercy and compassion is “new” and “fresh” every morning.  So why settle for left-overs when you can have a “fresh” meal each and every day?  What do you think?  Will it be slimy green, tasteless canned spinach or the “fresh” picked, crisp, tasty and nutritious variety strait from the garden?  Humm… kind of a no-brainer to me!  Have a great week.  Stay in tune (and taste) to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”