Psalm 34:8
March 2nd Devotional
“I do not like green eggs and ham!” Those now famous household words were written by the beloved children’s author, Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Today would have been Dr. Seuss’ birthday! He was born in Massachusetts. His father oversaw a local zoo, which later inspired many of Seuss’ animal creations and drawings. His mother would often sing to him and read multiple rhyming words to him, thus creating his love for being a wordsmith. Theodor would attend Dartmouth College. While attending there he was voted by his classmates as the least likely to succeed! Shortly after college Seuss would marry Helen Palmer. They lived in an old, converted observation tower (lighthouse). After college, he started to work for various publishing companies as an illustrator in their advertising department and during World War II he would use his talents for political cartoons. But Seuss desired to do more, his passion was to become a children’s author. His first children’s book “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” was rejected 27 times before it was published. The first book that drew attention to his talents was “The Cat in the Hat.” But none of his works are quite as famous as “Green Eggs and Ham.” The book was inspired by a bet between Dr. Seuss and his publisher, Bennet Cerf. Cerf bet that Theodor couldn’t write a children’s book that used only fifty different words. Seuss won the bet, only using fifty words. Incredibly only one word is more than one syllable (anywhere). The book follows the story of an unnamed narrator who is hounded by Sam-I-Am. Sam has a singular task, to get the narrator to try green eggs and ham. He goes to great means to try to persuade him to eat the unusual delicacy. He wouldn’t eat them with a fox, not a box, not a train, with a mouse in a house. Sam was persistent though. He eventually broke down the narrator's resolve until he tried a small piece. Much to his joy, he liked green eggs and ham. He would even eat them with a goat. This story with strange food items became a hit. To date, it has sold over 8 million copies, is the fourth best-seller of all time for children’s books, and helped Dr. Seuss become the first ever children’s author to win the Pulitzer Prize.
As a parent, I have felt like Sam-I-Am from time to time. I have tried to convince my kids that a particular food is good, only for them to fight me. I can understand their trepidation over Brussels sprouts (which are delicious by the way) but I struggled to get my children to eat cookies at one time. My kids now love cookies. Why? Because they tasted them and found out that they were good. The Psalmist encourages us on a spiritual level to “taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him (Psalm 34:8)!” The words taste and see are an invitation for someone to try and experience the goodness of God. David was not a peddler selling God’s goodness, instead, he was merely pleading with people to come into a relationship with God. If they did, they would find out that David’s were true; that God was and always will be good. As a believer, we taste and see that God is good when we reflect on His holiness, His unending love for us, His measureless forgiveness, and the power of His might. Each Christian has experienced God’s goodness through His provision, leadership, and His watch care over our lives. I hope that each Christ follower can exclaim with great enthusiasm that you have tasted of God’s goodness. But let’s go back to Green Eggs and Ham. The unnamed narrator would have never tasted the yummy food if someone didn’t invite him (multiple times might I add). Each Christian needs to be a “Sam-I-Am.” We need to invite other people to try God. How do we do that? By allowing other people to see God’s goodness flowing in our life. Sam-I-Am could tell others that Green Eggs and Ham were good because he ate them first. So it must be with us. First, we must taste before we invite others to come too.
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