I grew up in a large family in out-port Newfoundland. My Father was a true meat and potatoes man and my Mother would always cater to his taste when preparing the main meal for the day. We were always well fed, but it was a pretty basic menu…there was very little experimenting with new recipes and flavours. And what is more, I married a man who was also pretty basic when it came to planning a menu.
However, over the years with the different communities that we have lived in our horizon has expanded and we enjoy trying new recipes and foods from other cultures.
According to my husband grits are the pits and falafel is awful, but butter chicken is finger lickin’ and 7-layer dinner is a winner. In order to make these statements he had to “taste and see”. The results with tasting food is that we have added variety to our meals and learned that some meals are just not for us.
At times when we are presented with a new food it comes with a question. At times I might try the food first and Don would ask “Do you think I will like it?” Sometimes I might not even try a new food because Don has said “You won’t like this one”. Other times we have been encouraged by the words “Try it, you will like it.” (Often said with a raised eyebrow or sounding more like a question that a statement.) In the end, it all comes down to a matter of taste. And sometimes you just don’t like it.
However, there was no question mark in the tone of David’s statement in Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.”
David did not make this declaration after being exalted or after receiving a miracle but while he was in despair. Even as a death sentence was hanging over him, while he was being hunted by King Saul, David was able to recognize the goodness of God, and not only that but he extends the invitation to all of us to “Taste and see that the Lord is Good”. David gives this invitation confidently and boldly. Taste as see…. there is no “if, and or but” about it.
In Psalm 27:13 the Psalmist confesses “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
I would echo the words of the Psalmist, the Lord is good and yes, there are many times that “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” The Psalmist words, yes, but they could have been mine, they certainly are my experience.
So, allow me to catapult the Psalmist’s invitation into 2020, into your home, into your heart “TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD!!!”
This is not a matter of preference, it’s a matter of fact, but you do have to taste it to live in it. Then you will know that “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” Psalm 145:9