No Taste or Smell
“Not having taste or smell has been one of the strangest experiences of my life. I had no symptoms of Covid until I couldn’t smell garlic bread! ….How many of us have lost our ‘taste and desire’ for God’s Word?” - Treg Spicer
I could taste salty and savory and sweet, but my sense of smell left, and I lost 5 lbs from that. OK, so it wasn’t all bad, but it sure was nice when my sense of smell returned.
To the subject, it strikes me that we will do well to make sure that we don’t get in the way of the “scent” of God’s Word needlessly—there are times when I wonder whether the aim of certain teachers is to teach the Word, or to repeat the program of whatever Bible college he attended. Like it or not, the “scent” of God’s Word is far more entrancing than the scent of man-made theological systems.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
I didn’t experience ‘loss’ of senses, but stuff tasted weird for a few days and I experienced phantom smells. It’s probably the same thing as a partial loss—there’s an imbalance that results in just weird.
Really felt bad for the author though: that would be really discouraging.
A tip on re-stimulating taste for the Word: human nature being what it is, familiarity can result in a kind of anticipated boredom—a perception that “I’ve read all of this before and and it’s the same as it was.” It’s “anticipated,” because once you get into it, and if you’re alert, it doesn’t really go that way. At least for me it doesn’t. But there’s a getting started barrier.
One thing that has gotten me past that pretty consistently is picking up a new translation, or going back to one I haven’t read in a long time. A new physical copy helps with this also. It’s exciting to dive into a new Bible with colored pencils handy and start reading and marking. I’ve even done it with paraphrases, like the New Living ‘Translation.’ As a personal Bible study tool, it was an excellent resource.
So I’m overdue for a new “reset” of that sort I think.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
I have often wondered how sweet God’s word would be if I were not able to teach it and hear others excited about it. Our Monday night Bible studies are set up as a round table and it is so sweet to hear others excitement about the word of God. It keeps the hunger there.
It’s supposed to be a “body” thing/community thing. In my experience, there’s also nothing like teaching it. If we do it right, teaching makes us look through other people’s eyes, and that pulls the mind past the fog of familiarity. If we do it right.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Discussion