Taste and See that the Lord is Good

Corn flour: Processed with lime

Vegetable oil: Soybean, canola, or palm oilSeasoning: Includes salt, sugar, citric acid, and monosodium glutamateHydrolyzed soybean protein: A common ingredient in Takis

Yeast extract: A common ingredient in Takis

Onion powder: A common ingredient in Takis

Artificial colors: Red 40 lake and yellow 6 lake are common artificial colors in Takis

Sodium bicarbonate: A common ingredient in Takis

Disodium inosinate and guanylate: A common ingredient in Takis

TBHQ: An antioxidant that is a common ingredient in Takis

Additional ingredients

Hot chili pepper: A common ingredient in Takis

Dehydrated onion: An ingredient in Takis Fuego

Spice extractives: An ingredient in Takis Fuego that includes red chili pepper

Whey powder: An ingredient in Takis Xplosion

Garlic powder: An ingredient in Takis Xplosion

Tomato powder: An ingredient in Takis Xplosion

Takis may also contain milk, egg, wheat, peanuts, barley gluten, sulfites, and mustard.

Taki’s Common ingredients

Every week when a pastor gets up to preach, he is essentially listing ingredients. Hopefully he does it so well that those who hear him long to taste for themselves. But the truth is, hearing the ingredients every week can never take the place of personally tasting.

We have any Foodies in the room?

I will confess, I am not a member of this elite club, but my wife is. Everywhere we go, we have an itinerary on where we are going to eat.

I have learned, that It’s all about the experience. For the longest time, i couldn’t understand. I didn’t grasp the degree that this cult had a grip on people… until.

Tell Utah Story about Burger King

I tell that story jokingly, it really happened, but I have come to understand where these people are coming from. Where you people are coming from.

The taste really does matter.

John Perry tells the story of his parent’s final years of life by saying :

“they lived in an area where there were a number of retirement units. It was good for them b/c they met new people their own age, mixed w/ them, had a seniors club they went to & generally had a good time. I remember one couple in particular they met & became good friends with. The husband had throat cancer a number of years earlier & due to surgery had permanently damaged his ability to taste anything. I remember my mother telling me how his wife asked him what he would like to eat & he would just say ..... it doesn’t matter I can’t taste anything anyway! For this man eating was simply a matter of staying alive. Enjoyment was no longer a part of his dinning experience.”

God wants us not only to know the ingredients of His Love, Grace, and Mercy. He wants us to “Taste” them. He wants us to find Life and Joy in Him.

He tells us that in Psalm 34.

What’s Going on

Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50 Taste and See (Psalm 34)

Psalm 34 is one of only fourteen psalms that give us the historical setting in which they were written (Johnston, Psalms, 347). The superscription says, “Concerning David, when he pretended to be insane in the presence of Abimelech, who drove him out, and he departed.” The specifics of this story are recorded in 1 Samuel 21, and it is one of the most interesting moments in David’s life. While Saul was still king, David was rising in prominence. When David was seen, people would chant, “Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands” (1 Sam 18:7). As a result, Saul became jealous and angry, and he was consumed with trying to kill David. As David was running for his life, he fled to Gath. This was an interesting place for David to hide because it was the hometown of Goliath, whom he had killed a few years prior. Everyone in Gath knew who David was.

David was recognized, and news got to the king that he was there. David, while trying to save his life, ran into a town filled with people who wanted to end his life. He was trapped, but he had an idea. He decided to act like he had lost his mind. He let his saliva run down his beard and he began to scratch at a doorpost. When the king saw him, he said, “Look! You can see the man is crazy!” And David left Gath unharmed. From that situation David wrote Psalm 34.

Let’s read the text and see what We can find.

Psalm 34 ESV

Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away. 1 I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! 4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be 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 encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! 10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 11 Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. 14 Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. 20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. 21 Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

We Are Invited to Personally Experience Him

David motivates us to experience God by affirming all the benefits.

If you desire life and want to enjoy what is good, taste of the Lord (v. 12).

If you want to have the listening ear of the Lord, taste of the Lord (v. 17).

If you want to know the saving power of the Lord, taste of him (v. 19).

If you want to have a refuge in times of trouble, taste of the Lord (v. 22).

An endless amount of blessings is reserved for those who will taste and see. God is inviting us to do just that.

We Are Invited to Actively Pursue Him

Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50 We Are Invited to Actively Pursue Him

We are not only invited to personally experience God, but we are also invited to actively pursue him. “Taste” is a command that demands action. It is not something that happens passively or by accident. Those who really taste and see are those who have chosen to actively pursue the Lord. If you have ever tried to get a stubborn child to taste something he doesn’t want to taste, then you know that forcing someone to taste just doesn’t accomplish much. Every person must choose to taste. Each must choose to pursue the Lord. This is what David did. He walked with the Lord, he trusted the Lord, he pursued the Lord, and as a result, he experienced the Lord’s goodness.

In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.” Jesus obviously longs for us to experience him. He is offering us himself. But he also makes clear that those who would experience him must first pursue him. There are those who will never experience specific answers to prayer because they have not prayed (Ross, Psalms 1–41, 752).

Verses 9–16 of this psalm give us many practical means by which we pursue the Lord.

The call to “fear the Lord” is really a call to live in obedient devotion to him (v. 9).

Verse 10 calls us to “seek the Lord” and assures us that those who do will in fact experience him.

David calls us to keep our tongues from evil (v. 13),

“turn away from evil” (v. 14),

seek and pursue peace (v. 14),

and walk in holiness before the Lord (vv. 15–16).

God makes himself known to those who seek him and walk with him. There is unquestionably a connection between the level of someone’s pursuit and the level of his or her experience. Those who fight sin and pursue holiness experience God.

One of the most discouraging things about the American church is how many people attend church each Sunday for their weekly dose of Jesus. To think about it in terms of “tasting,” these people eat junk food all week and expect that Sunday salad to make them healthy. It doesn’t work that way. One healthy meal does not negate twenty unhealthy meals. In order for people to truly experience all that God has to offer and to know his goodness, they must choose to satisfy the cravings of their hearts with God, not junk.

We are Invited to be Fully Satisfied in Him

Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50 We Are Invited to Be Fully Satisfied in Him

David invites us to personally experience the Lord, to actively pursue the Lord, and finally, to be fully satisfied in the Lord.

David makes a guarantee. It is a guarantee he feels confident in making not only because of his own personal experience but also because of God’s consistent promises. David guarantees that if you will taste, you will in fact see that the Lord is good.

The reason we know the Lord will satisfy us if we seek him is because we were created to be satisfied only with him. God created us to experience life at its fullest only when we are walking in step with him. As we receive his invitation to trust and follow him and choose by faith to trust Christ alone as the payment for our sins, he brings us back into a right relationship with him that makes it possible for us to seek him better and know him. The moment we give our lives to Christ is the beginning of a new life in which we daily seek him because we know that he alone can satisfy.

The battle of life for every believer is that of believing every day that nothing will satisfy us like Jesus. This is a truth that we must believe. We must know for sure that everything else in life will leave us hungry, but Jesus will satisfy us fully

God Calls us to Taste Him. To Experience Him. To Pursue Him. To Trust Him. To be Satisfied in Him.

And When we do, we see what happens.

He Delivers us from our Fears (Vs. 4)

Saved us from troubles (vs. Vs 6)

Provides when there is nothing to be found (vs. 9)

Hears our Cries (Vs. 15)

Mends the Broken (vs. 18)

Delivers us from Affliction (vs. 19)

Redeems and Protects (vs. 22)

Psalm 34:8 ESV

8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Have you been tasting Him, or have you only been memorizing His ingredients?