WATCHWORD:
I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. 2 I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart. 3 Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; 4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. He freed me from all my fears. He freed me from all my fears. no shadow of shame will darken their faces. 6 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles. 7 For the angel of the Lord is a guard; 8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:1-8
Meditation:
Taste and See
Have you ever been invited to a real feast? I mean an incredible feast where you walk into the dining room and there before you a beautiful buffet. You are overwhelmed by the wonderful smells that surround you as you walk by the table. The hors d’oeuvres! The aroma is so–hmm. Even the vegetables make your mouth water. And then you walk by the main course and you again are overwhelmed by a perfect aroma that is hard to describe. And the sight—ah, the sight of all that blessed food!
And then…you leave! You just walk out of the banquet hall! What?! You leave after that incredible preview? You didn’t sample any of the buffet? What did you miss? The aromas were out of this world but what was the taste like? Why did you not taste it? How could you have had this incredible opportunity to sample perfection and do nothing?
In Psalm 34:8 we read “taste and see that the Lord is good”. Or to rephrase, see and taste that the Lord is good.
Quiz: What was Jesus’ first miracle? In the second chapter of John we are told that Jesus was in attendance at a wedding reception when the wine had run out. At His mother’s urging, Jesus turns 150 gallons of water into superb wine in order to keep the party going. Why would he do that? Did he want to get everyone inebriated? No! The answer is that this “miracle” symbolized why Jesus came — to bring joy to our lives.
So, we have this incredible buffet, and now we have superb wine and we are now ready…for what? Jonathan Edwards in his famous sermon, “A Divine and Supernatural Light” makes this statement: “There is a difference between believing that God is holy and gracious, and having a new sense in the heart of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. The difference between believing that God is gracious and experiencing that graciousness is as different as having a belief that honey is sweet and having the actual experience of tasting the sweetness.”
Can you think of a time when you actually “tasted” God’s grace? I can recall a time several years ago, loaded down with guilt because of something that had happened the day before, sitting in a church in Chicago, early for the Sunday service, listening to Paul Winter, the famous alto saxophone player, playing an introduction to the worship service. With that beautiful music surrounding me, I had a tangible sense of God’s grace. At that moment, my depression and guilt were lifted and I knew that this was God’s grace. In a real way, I could taste (experience) that the Lord is good.
Timothy Keller, in his excellent book, The Prodigal God, makes this statement: “Jesus’ salvation is a feast, and therefore when we believe in and rest in his work for us, through the Holy Spirit he becomes real to our hearts. His love is like honey, or like wine. Rather than only believing that he is loving, to sense the reality, the beauty, and the power of his love. His love can become more real to you than the love of anyone else.”
Ah, that is hard to get our mind around. God’s love is more than the love of our closest loved one! I believe that if we knew the depth, the breath, and the height of God’s love we might be terrified! That love goes far beyond our human ability to understand it. That love goes far beyond where our imaginations can take us. That love encompasses us even when we, by our own judgment, have been totally and completely unlovable! God’s love, like God’s grace, is never-ending, is all-encompassing and is there for us regardless.
So, don’t leave the banquet hall without sampling the wonderful buffet that God has laid out for us. Inhale the wondrous aromas and sample the delicacies of grace. And don’t miss the entrée, the prize, that God loves us, truly and completely, and that God is in charge of all that would touch our lives. Don’t miss that. Amen.
Bulletin Board:
The disciples of Jesus gave their lives for the preaching of the gospel. Here are the six most visible:
Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.
Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic “Book of Revelation” on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
Peter was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
Paul was tortured and then beheaded by Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67.
Morning Prayers thru Psalms:
I want to worship only You. Take me deeper in my prayer life and in intimacy with You. Help me to walk in Your light and holiness. I want to know You more. “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord” (Psalm 89:15). Give me joy in Your presence and help me to bring joy into the lives of others. “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11). I want to dwell in Your house and gaze on Your beauty. I want to seek Your face. “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple… Hear my voice when I call, O LORD” (Psalm 27:4, 7). Amen.
