"The blessedness of God will be the blessedness of his people. Their purity shall be without stain, their love without limit; wherefore their happiness shall know no bound. Their character will correspond to the character of God; wherefore their felicity will be the same as his.
Men, as they are generally, could find no satisfaction in God's house, in the place where his glory has its highest revelation; nor is there anything attractive to them in the river of his pleasures. Satan has so vitiated their palate with the caustic of sin, that they have no faculty of appreciating the banquet that is spread in heaven. Even the Israelites preferred the leeks and onions of Egypt to the manna from heaven."
— George Bowen (1816–1888) · The White Sadhu of Bombay✦ The Palate Burned by Sin
Bowen names the problem with devastating clarity: the human palate has been vitiated — burned, corrupted, dulled — by sin. The banquet of heaven is spread. The river of pleasures flows. But the soul whose taste buds have been cauterized cannot appreciate what is offered. It reaches for the leeks and onions of Egypt because those are the only flavors it can still detect. The problem is not the banquet. It is the palate.
"Happy are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Give them the most exquisite viands that man can prepare, and their tears will fall as they eat; they long to arise and hurry themselves to some humble chamber where believers bow the knee before their heavenly Father and ask for his reviving grace.
They have tasted of a particular food, and their whole nature has been brought under the enchantment of it; they disdain all that they formerly thought excellent; and never can they be satisfied till that heaven-born appetite brings them to the mansion of their Father, and to that garden where the saints walk in light and drink of the river of the pleasures of God."
— George Bowen (1816–1888)"They have tasted of a particular food, and their whole nature has been brought under the enchantment of it."
— George Bowen · The hunger is not a lack. It is the proof that the palate is alive.✦ Stay Hungry and Thirsty
Matthew 5:6. The hunger is not the problem — it is the blessing. The soul that has stopped being hungry is the soul that has settled for leeks and onions when manna was falling. But the soul whose palate has been restored — who has tasted the particular food — can never be satisfied with anything less. The hunger drives. It is Baker's tyrannizing affection. It is Guyon's heart that, having tasted the love of God, finds it impossible to delight in anything else. The hunger is not a lack. It is the proof that the palate is alive and the taste is true.
"The most important thing for me is to stay hungry and thirsty. Happy are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. It's a promise I can count on."
"The river of your pleasures. 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.' Thus says the Eternal Father. What sayest you? 'In these things I delight,' says the Lord; 'in loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness.' What sayest you? 'As a bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.' 'The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him.' Dost you?
We must be drinking even now of the river of the pleasures of God; then have we an assured hope that our thirst shall be fully slaked in the beatific future."
— George Bowen (1816–1888)✦ Even Now
Bowen's closing connects the present to the future: drinking now is the preparation for drinking then. The morning devotion and the eternal banquet differ only in degree — Baker's teaching from two days ago. The river of God's pleasures is not only a future promise. It flows now. The soul that drinks now has the assured hope. The means and the end are the same.
The Vitiated Palate
Sin burns the taste buds. The banquet is spread but the soul cannot appreciate it. The Israelites chose leeks and onions over manna. The problem is never the banquet. It is the palate.
The Heaven-Born Appetite
Happy are those who hunger and thirst. The hunger is the blessing, not the problem. The soul that has tasted the particular food can never be satisfied with less. Stay hungry. Stay thirsty.
The River Flows Now
Drinking now is preparation for drinking then. The morning devotion and the eternal banquet differ only in degree. The river of God's pleasures is not only future. It flows today.