Having "tasted that the Lord is gracious," we come to His Word, and receive from Him that which we feel to comfort, nourish, and refresh our souls. The Word always comes with savor from Himself. It is known as "the word of His grace." I may study the Word again and again; but unless I get into communion with Him by it, it will profit me nothing, at least at the time.
God reveals not His things "to the wise and prudent," but unto "babes." It is not the strength of man's mind judging about "the things of God" that gets the blessing from Him; it is by the spirit of the babe desiring the "sincere milk of the word." He says, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." The strongest mind must come to the Word of God as the "new-born babe."
And so too in speaking of God's truth; whenever we cannot speak "as the oracles of God," through the power of communion, it is our business to be silent. We should be cautious not to trifle with unascertained truth; nothing hinders growth more than this—trifling with unascertained truth—we can then act as teachers and not as learners. Our position as regards the truth of God must be ever that of new-born babes desiring "the sincere milk of the word," that we may "grow thereby."
But there is nothing so hard for our hearts as to be humble, nothing so easy for them as to get out of this place of lowliness. It is not by precepts merely that we are either brought into this state, or preserved there, it is by tasting "that the Lord is gracious." It is quite true that God is a God of judgment—that He will exercise vengeance on His enemies—but that is not the way in which He stands toward the Christian. He is made known unto us as "the God of all grace," and the position in which we are set is that of tasting "that He is gracious."
How hard it is for us to believe this—that the Lord is gracious! The natural feeling of our hearts is, "I know that thou art an austere man." Are our wills thwarted, we quarrel with God's ways and are angry because we cannot have our own. It may be perhaps that this feeling is not manifested, but still at any rate there is the want in all of us naturally of the understanding of the grace of God—the inability to apprehend it. See the case of the poor prodigal in the gospel—the thought of the fullness of his father's grace never entered into his mind when he set out on his return; and therefore he only reckoned on being received as a "hired servant." But what does the father say? What are the feelings of his heart? "Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it:... for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." This is grace—free grace.
So too in the case of the woman of Samaria (the poor adulteress, ignorant of the character of Him who spake with her—"the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth," and therefore the suited One to meet her need), the Lord says to her, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." Hadst thou only understood what grace is, thou wouldst have asked, and I would have given.