No sensible wife would refuse this offer. But this time, I wish I had.
Russell was isolating at home after testing positive for Covid, but he felt fine. Having created a bubbling pot of chilli con carne, he handed me a spoon, “Taste this. It’s bland and nothing I do is helping.”
The penny dropped as the chili sauce hit my tongue—nearly blowing my head off! “You have Covid!” I exclaimed. “You can’t taste anything!” Having forgotten about this side-effect of the virus, Russell had kept adding chilies without tasting their effect.
Taste informs us about the freshness and safety of food, but sickness stopped Russell’s tastebuds from working. Jeremiah warned that something similar can happen to our hearts: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). The sickness of sin stops our hearts from informing us about the world around us. A sin-infected heart misses the poison of sin; it tells us that good things are boring and bad things are fine. Left to ourselves, this sickness is beyond cure. But “I the Lord search the heart” (v. 10). We can hand the spoon to God when we’re not sure if what we’re tasting in the world is good for us. With Jeremiah we can pray, “Heal me, Lord, and I shall be healed” (v. 14). God indeed will guide us and heal us. Debbi Fralick - Daily Bread
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