How I love God Pt 27: Taste and see the LORD is good
Psalm 34:4-10 4I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. 5Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. 6This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. 7The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. 8Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 9Fear the LORD, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Isaiah 41:10 10So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Psalm 23:1-3 1The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
When I first read this psalm, oh so many years ago, I wondered just what the writer meant by ‘taste and see’. I thought, “How can someone ‘taste’ a spirit?” The whole concept seemed incongruous until I began to understand that some things in life cannot really be understood until we experience them. I live in Denver, which means I have ready access to the mountains of Colorado including 58 which rise to above 14,000 feet. For me, experiencing sunrise at altitude is an almost spiritual event involving all of the senses; the air is crisp, sound diminished, temperatures slightly chilly, sunlight invades the darkness of the night, and the campfire brings a contentment difficult to express.
Faith can be like that. We can hear that God is good. We can read about His faithfulness. We can listen to someone tell us how God helped them through a difficult season. But eventually, there comes a point when we need to experience God's goodness for ourselves.
David writes in Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” David was not simply giving an intellectual statement about God. He was speaking from experience. He had been afraid. He had been in trouble. He had cried out to God, and God had answered him. David had learned something that many believers eventually discover: God's goodness becomes much more meaningful when we learn to trust Him in the middle of real life. The message is simple: God is good, and we learn to recognize His goodness as we seek Him and trust Him with our lives.
We should seek the LORD
The first thing David did in his struggles was seek God. He was a flawed man; he had committed adultery and had murdered. But he knew where to turn for help. Seeking God means turning toward Him rather than away from Him, which sounds simple, but isn’t. When something goes wrong, we may immediately try to fix it ourselves. We may call a friend, search the internet, worry about every possible outcome, or simply keep everything inside. There is nothing wrong with asking people for help or taking responsible action. But there is something wrong when God becomes the last person we think about.
Imagine a person driving through unfamiliar country at night. The road signs have become difficult to read, and the driver is no longer certain which direction to take. The worst thing the driver can do is confidently continue down a road simply because it is the road already being traveled. Sometimes the wise thing is to stop and find the right direction. Life can be like that. We can keep moving because we are afraid to admit that we do not know where we are going. Seeking the LORD means being willing to stop and say, “God, I need You. I don't know what to do. Please lead me.”
That is why Psalm 23 is such a comforting passage. David says, “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing” (Psalm 23:1). He describes God as the One who makes him lie down in green pastures, leads him beside quiet waters, and refreshes his soul. We need God's guidance because we do not always know what is ahead. We need His wisdom because our own understanding is limited. Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us to trust in the LORD rather than depending entirely on our own understanding and to acknowledge Him in all our ways.
Seeking God does not mean we stop thinking, planning, working, or making decisions. It means we invite God into all those things.
When we call He answers
“This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles” (Psalm 34:6).
Yes, David called, and yes, God heard, but that does not mean David's life suddenly became trouble-free. The rest of Psalm 34 makes that clear. The promise is not that God's people will never have trouble. The promise is that God is with us in our trouble and is able to deliver us. Isaiah 41:10 makes this especially clear:
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.”
God does not tell His people not to fear because difficult things will never happen. He tells them not to fear because He is with them. There is a big difference. Sometimes He changes our circumstances. Sometimes He gives us strength to endure them. Sometimes He opens a door we could not open ourselves. Sometimes He gives us wisdom about what to do next. And sometimes He simply carries us through a season we desperately wish would end.
But He hears us. That matters because prayer is not talking into an empty room. Sometimes we feel foolish praying in that empty room because we can’t see God. Prayer is bringing our concerns before the living God. And sometimes the answer doesn’t seem to come. The answer may not always come in the form we expected. David asked God for help, and God's answer included deliverance. But throughout Scripture, God's people sometimes waited. Abraham waited. Joseph waited. David waited. Israel waited. The disciples waited. But waiting does not mean God has stopped listening.
A person may pray for a job and still remain unemployed for a while. Someone may pray for a relationship to be restored and still experience a long period of silence. A family may pray for a difficult circumstance to change, only to discover that God gives them strength rather than immediately changing the circumstance. We should never measure God's goodness only by whether He gives us exactly what we requested because God sees what we cannot see.
Fear of the LORD brings blessing
“Fear the LORD, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.”
Biblical fear of God does not mean living in constant terror that God is waiting to punish us. It means having a deep respect for who God is. It means recognizing that He is God and we are not. That changes how we live. When we truly understand that God is holy, wise, loving, and powerful, we begin to take His instructions seriously. Fearing God means trusting that His ways are better than our ways.
“Those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”
That does not mean believers will possess everything they want. It means God knows what is truly good for us. We sometimes approach God with a list of things we believe would make our lives better, but God sees the whole picture. Psalm 23:2-3 says that the Shepherd leads His sheep to places of rest, refreshes their souls, and guides them along right paths. But the right path is not necessarily the easiest path. Sometimes the right path includes sacrifice. Sometimes it requires patience. Sometimes it means forgiving someone who hurt us. Sometimes it means admitting we were wrong. Sometimes it means walking away from something that is damaging our relationship with God.
God's goodness is not measured by how comfortable our lives are. His goodness is seen in how faithfully He leads us.
He is our God
Isaiah 41:10 contains a particularly personal statement from God: “I am your God.” That is more than a theological fact. It is a relationship. God does not simply say, “I am God.” He says, “I am your God.” Psalm 23 expresses the same personal relationship: “The LORD is my shepherd.”
That little word ‘my’ changes everything. The Christian faith is not simply learning facts about God. It is coming to know God personally through Jesus Christ. God does not merely give us things. He gives us Himself. When life is going well, it can be easy to say that God is good. But the deeper lesson comes when life is painful and we can still say, “He is my God.” When the diagnosis is frightening, He is still my God. When the job disappears, He is still my God. When the relationship breaks down, He is still my God. When the future is uncertain, He is still my God. When we do not understand what He is doing, He is still my God. And because He is our God, we are never facing those moments alone.
“He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake.”
Sometimes we need our circumstances changed. But sometimes what we need most is for our souls to be restored. That is something only God can ultimately do. The Shepherd knows when we are tired. He knows when we are frightened. He knows when we have wandered. He knows when we need rest. And He knows how to lead us back.
What about me?
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
If you are facing a decision today, begin by seeking God. Pray before you react. Open Scripture before allowing fear to make the decision for you. Ask God for wisdom. Sometimes His answer comes through Scripture, sometimes through wise counsel, sometimes through circumstances, and sometimes through a growing peace about the direction He is leading. When you call upon the LORD, remember that being heard by God is already a tremendous gift. Keep praying. Keep trusting. Keep bringing your fears to Him. Isaiah 41:10 continues with God's promise: “I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” You may not know what tomorrow will bring, but you can know who holds tomorrow.
Ask yourself whether you trust God's wisdom enough to obey Him even when His way is difficult. We do not fear God merely by saying that we respect Him. We demonstrate that respect through obedience. When we follow God's direction, we may discover later that the path we did not want was the path that protected us.