“taste and see that the LORD is good!”
There was a time when I had to have something good to drink with my meal. A coke product of some kind or sweet tea would do just nicely. Many of us grew up as kids with Tang, Kool-Aid, or Hi-C. It was a real treat. I bet some of you can remember the special jug for the powdery drink or the pitcher the tea was stored in. There was an excitement in the air when you caught a glimpse of it in the fridge or you saw it being carried over to the dinner table.
Not long ago, we celebrated the birthday of one of my daughters with some of her friends. Fifteen elementary school girls came over to the house in order to play games, jump on the trampoline, and consume an immense amount of pizza. One of the options for drinks to go with a meal was a selection of syrups to add to carbonated water. This was a new concept to me, but interesting for sure. My daughter asked me if I had tried some. I made a snarky face and said, “I’m not putting that nasty stuff in my water.” Turns out, I was missing out. I just needed to taste and see.
Joy dominated the faces of the girls as they choose a sugary flavor, mixed it together, and then took a sip. A huge smile broke out on each of their faces as they tried it for the first time and took it back to their seat. They kept coming back, over and over again, to enjoy the taste that they had discovered. That little bit of sweetness—an added kick—was special, and it ended up being fun to witness. Again, I just needed to taste and see.
Various syrups that can be added to drinks.
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” — Psalm 119:103 ESV
Psalm 119 is a long, detailed praise of the word of God to the psalmist. He writes over and over about how important the Lord’s instruction is to him. He praises God’s counsel and wisdom, His precepts and words. It is a constant praise, as if he will never stop coming back to how wonderful the Lord’s words are, enjoying them to the fullest.
We live in an age of great consumption. We are consumers of what seems to be an infinite amount of content that is created and consumed at lightning speed. People have an unquenchable thirst for something new to take in. But most of what is offered doesn’t satisfy; it doesn’t give way to real joy; it doesn’t satisfy. People have to find something new, something funnier, something refreshing because the content gets old fast.
But the psalmist finds delight in the Lord and in His word. The leading of God, the instruction of God, the wisdom of God are the things he keeps coming back to—over and over and over. It begs the question of us: do we see God words to us as something worth coming back to repeatedly? Have we discovered their taste, their sweetness? Are they greater to us than the various things the world offers? We should taste and see.
Taste and See
Psalm 34.8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Through the statutes and commands of God we can experience His goodness and the life that comes from Him. If we will but taste what God is offering, and see through that experience that there is fullness to find in God, life will become all that is intended to be.
Like the syrup that my daughter and her friends added to their water, there is a liveliness that can only be found in bringing our lives to God. I’m reminded of Jesus’s words to the woman at the well, “Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this [well] water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”” (John 4.13-14).
God is so very good. He is sweet, sweeter than honey, and we are foolish if we do not taste and see that He is good. Don’t miss out on what God is serving up. When you take in what He offers, you find that He’s the only thing you’ll want. Taste and see.
—Pastor Whit
Read more inspirational messages regarding faith by checking out past Whitt’s End articles.