Taste Lord is good

Psalm 34:1–8 KJV 1900

1 I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. 3 O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. 5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: And their faces were not ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encampeth Round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. 8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Let’s take a look at Psalm 34 and we are just going to read v. 8 for now. Psalm 34:8 “8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” Background: Title ascribes the Psalm to when David faked insanity in Gath when he was fleeing from Saul (1 Samuel 21) David had seen God deliver him time and again from the hand of Saul and his other enemies ​ Structure of the Psalm A Call to Praise (vv.1-3) A Testimony of God’s Goodness (vv. 4-7) An Invitation to Experience God’s goodness (vv. 8-10) A Word of Wisdom (vv. 11-14) A Promise of Help (vv. 15-22) ​ We are going to make our focus verse 8. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” ​ 1. Experience the Goodness of God David says to the worshiper to “taste and see.” These are two of the senses that we have. They are some of the most important senses as well. Imagine not being able to taste or see. Imagine losing any of your senses for that matter. Illustration: Some that had Covid, a symptom was the loss of taste and smell. Not smelling some things can be a blessing, but not tasting is horrible! How important it is to taste and smell. You can’t enjoy food without these two senses. What David is calling the worshiper to do is to experience God firsthand. Don’t just live through others, but experience the goodness of God for yourself. David had been through a lot! He had been chased all over Israel by Saul. On numerous occasions, David had been almost caught by Saul, but God delivered him. Finally it got bad enough that David fled to the city of Gath, thinking no one would notice him, but he was wrong. He had to think fast and come up with a way of escape. So, David begins to drool on himself and act crazy. The king, Abimelech, bought it and David escaped the city, because Abimelech said that he had enough crazy people already. The truth is, God caused Abimelech to buy David’s story. David was over joyed and it led to him writing this psalm about God’s deliverance. That’s why he says in vv. 1—7, Psalm 34:1–7 “1 I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. 3 O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. 5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: And their faces were not ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encampeth Round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” David knew God had delivered him and he was singing up a storm! He understood the goodness of God. If you are going to really understand the goodness of God, you are going to have to experience it for yourself. You can’t experience it through someone else. You have to personally taste and you have to see that the Lord is good. But, you also have to understand what it entails to taste and see. You are going to go through some difficult seasons in your life. You will have some trials and struggles. But you will come out of them praising God because you have tasted and seen the goodness of God. 2. Trust in the Goodness of God The more you experience the goodness of God firsthand, the more you can trust in that goodness. David says, “blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.” What does it mean to be blessed? The synonym for this word is “happy.”

How happy is the man who trusts in the Lord. The psalmist in verse 8 uses the word “blessed” is. The person who trusts in the Lord can be happy because their trust is in the immovable Rock. Psalm 34:17-22 says, Psalm 34:17–22 “17 The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, And delivereth them out of all their troubles. 18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; And saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: But the Lord delivereth him out of them all. 20 He keepeth all his bones: Not one of them is broken. 21 Evil shall slay the wicked: And they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. 22 The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” Verse 20 was actually used to apply to Jesus at His death. Jesus is the perfect example of what it looks like to trust in the Lord and what it means to be blessed. Jesus could be “blessed” no matter what was going on because His confidence was in the Lord. One thing that the Lord has been and is teaching us is the sovereignty of God. God is in complete control of what is going on in this world. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without the Lord knowing; and God establishes the boundaries of every nation, and has appointed a time and season for everything.

Ecc 3:1  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 

Ecc 3:2  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 

Ecc 3:3  A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 

Ecc 3:4  A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 

Ecc 3:5  A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 

Ecc 3:6  A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 

Ecc 3:7  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 

Ecc 3:8  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.  But this is not some concept that only applies to the large scale things in life like nations and global events. It also applies to your own personal life. Psalm 139 says that you are fearfully and wonderfully made and that God knows all of our days. We don’t have to worry about a thing when we put our trust in the Lord. This trust leads to happiness. It doesn’t mean we are happy because we are trouble-free. David certainly wasn’t trouble free. In fact, even after this, there were several other close-call situations. But, David could have confidence no matter what was happening, because God was on his side. The happiness we experience is a state of mind. It’s a decision to rest in the goodness of God. ​ What about you? Do you worry? Do you have fear? Trust in the goodness of God. Conclusion: You know, the ultimate deliverance any of us can have is trusting in Jesus. No matter what happens to us in this life, we can always trust in God.

We can(have) taste(ed) and see(en) that God is good in trials.

We can(have) taste(ed) and see(en) that God is good in suffering.

We can(have) taste(ed) and see(en) that God is good in happiness, joy, and gladness. In all things we can give God thanks because He is good to us.

We have to challenge people to come and taste and see that the Lord is Good

if you watch a cooking show are you able to taste what they have cooked can you smell it, wouldn't it be better if you could actually taste what they were cooking that is why people need to come and taste and see for themselves how good God is, then they too can be Blessed - and trust in the Lord