WATCHWORD:
2 I live and breathe God; if things aren’t going well, hear this and be happy: 3 Join me in spreading the news; together let’s get the word out. 4 God met me more than halfway, he freed me from my anxious fears. 5 Look at him; give him your warmest smile. Never hide your feelings from him. 6 When I was desperate, I called out, and God got me out of a tight spot. 7 God’s angel sets up a circle of protection around us while we pray. 8 Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—how good God is. Psalm 34:2-8 The Message
Meditation:
Every Good Thing
As you read this passage from Psalm 34 you catch a flavor of joy and the happiness. It’s hard to realize that this song, this Psalm, was written by David at a time when he had fled for his life out of the clutches of Saul and the Philistines, and took refuge in a cave where many other desperate men had joined him.
The Message version of this passage reads like one giving their faith testimony to others, maybe those who gathered in the cave. He is also speaking to us when we’re confronted with trouble, adversity, sadness, and tells us to be joyful, to call on the Lord, to give him a hopeful smile, and to realize that we belong to Him. He makes it plain when we run to the Lord, we see and taste His goodness.
David, in writing this psalm, reveals a deep abiding faith in God, a faith born of a personal encounter with the Creator. Our tasting and our seeing are ways that we interact and understand the world around us. We should view faith as a spiritual sense, because with faith we interact with the spiritual world, the Holy Spirit within us. To taste and see are like trusting God, loving Him, seeking Him.
How does one taste God? We taste God by seriously considering, and thoroughly and affectionately interacting with Him and experiencing our own joy and celebrating the joy felt by others.
You may have heard me or others describe a “born-again” experience. A time when Christ the Savior was embraced and felt an overwhelming sense of peace. Or perhaps you have been to a weekend experience called Cursillo and felt a renewed sense of the presence our Lord and Savior. We are tasting and often seeing the result of the work of the Holy Spirit within ourselves and others. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
I wonder as we go through our own lives and experience the highs of things going our way, and fully recognize that this is the Lord doing good for us. Or have we prayed to get beyond dark times and found the light, and simply thought, never mind, Lord, I’ve got this, rather than ‘Thank you, Lord’.
Can we get it through our thick, often self-centered heads, that the good we are experiencing may not be due to our own strength, or wisdom, or smarts, but indeed, may be the goodness of God extended to us because we seek the Lord. Can we do that? Can we say this tiny bit of good, or this gigantic miraculous healing we have experienced has all passed through the hands of our Lord as part of his goodness? Say, “Thank you, Lord.” That would be a good habit, along with praising Him through it all, the light and the dark times.
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Amen.
Alone, Yet Not Alone:
Prayer:
Dear Lord, Thank You for being good. Thank You for the promise that I can be happy as I trust You. Open my eyes Lord as I read Your Word and think about Your goodness in my circumstances. Help me to taste Your truth and see how You are working in my life. May my life and the joy you fill me with, encourage those around me to taste and see that You are good. In Your Name, Jesus, I pray, Amen
