Taste & See: the Lord is Good

Call to Worship

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Good morning! We’re so glad to have you worshiping with us this morning.

I’m Matt Magee, Lead Pastor at Oak Grove, and I can’t wait to get into our worship through music and the proclamation of God’s Word this morning. As we think about worship, we often equate “worship” with being happy. And while worshiping the Lord is joyous, sometimes we worship, or declare God’s holiness, grace and faithfulness through our pain.

This is true as we worship the Lord while separated out of love for our neighbors while in the midst of a pandemic. It’s true also as we grieve with others in our church family who grieve. This morning Bev White, who has served the Lord Jesus sacrificially for many, many years now gets to worship him perfectly - just as we all were created to! So while we our overjoyed that God is always faithful to His promises to prepare a place for us in Heaven, we’re sad because we’ll miss Beverly.

Keep her family in your prayer and also remember Mle Muzingo who’s hospitalized on her 93rd birthday with hip surgery.

This morning we’re looking at Psalm 34, which opens with these lines:

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Psalm 34:1–3 ESV

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!

Message Introduction

Often in life we want to experience the benefits of something doing what’s necessary for that to occur.

We want to be healthier, but don’t want to give up what we’re eating or exercise;

We want great friendships, but aren’t willing to be a sacrificial friend;

We want to know the Bible more, but choose to use the vast majority of our time with entertainment instead of getting in the Word;

We want a great marriage, but only on our terms.

We want the benefits of something but don’t do what’s necessary to accomplish it.

Many of us would say we want a vibrant relationship with the Lord, but define it according to our own terms. We can learn from the Apostle Paul who said:

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Philippians 3:8–9 ESV

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

When Jesus is more precious than anything else, you and I will do what’s necessary to have a vibrant relationship with the Lord. But none of us will do it perfectly.

We’ll all stumble and fall. We’ll run and return. We’ll tremble in fear and rediscover peace and courage. We’ll be confused and then find clarity.

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This is why the Psalms are so helpful to us. In the Psalms we learn to speak God’s language, with God’s priorities, and go after God’s heart and echo His promises.

And as we’re studying the Psalms, we have some in our church who are putting artwork together as they think on the Psalms.

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Angela Dague designed this after thinking about all the goodness our God has given us to enjoy in His general revelation through nature. Every day you and I see ripples of God’s goodness. But ripples, like creation, kindness through others, etc. lead us to the original drop in the pond…to see that everything comes from God and moves out from Him.

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David, who wrote many of the Psalms, wrote what we’ll look at today, but it came out of deep tragedy, fear, disobedience and repentance. He wrote a Psalm to say, “Thank you, Lord.” But it’s a public prayer. One that starts with his personal testimony and extends outward to the people of God.

Near the pivot section of the Psalm He says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is Good!”

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Taste & See: The Lord is Good!

This Psalm is an acrostic - each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet with one exception, so it serves as an accent of sorts.

Some of the Psalms we’ve studied haven’t been connected to particular circumstances, but this one is. The title tells us

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Psalm 34:title ESV

Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

So the title of the Psalm drives the curious reader (and we should all be) to 1 Sam. 21 where we see David in one of his more vulnerable, creatively embarrassing moments.

Background

David was running from King Saul (seeking to kill him). He came hungry to a priest (Ahimelech) who gave him the consecrated bread and eventually Goliath’s sword.

An informant told Saul where David was so David was on the run again.

Now panicking, he wenty to Achish, the king of Gath (a Philistine city…and remember Goliath was a Philistine). You think the man of God who killed the giant and was carrying the dead man’s sword wouldn’t be noticed?

Now some of Achish’s servants ratted David out (again) and said, “Isn’t this David, of whom the Israelis sing, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’” (1 Sam 21:11)

Now David’s caught, so he turns deceptive, gets his thespian on and starts to act like a madman - scribbling on the city gate and drooling on his beard. (1 Sam. 21:15)

Achish falls for it and sarcastically asked his men (1 Sam. 21:15), “Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one into my presence?” So through his deception, David escapes. But his acting like a madman had dishonored God in front of these pagans.

Christians, when we face fear and tragedy, how we behave in front of Christians and non-Christians alike matters greatly.

David writes Psalm 34 after the Lord had gripped his heart, shown him his wrong and taught him the lessons that David would pass on to other Christians.

If we only read of David’s escape in 1 Samuel, we might think that he got away out of his own cunning and craftiness. We might even see it and say, “Hey, I can knowingly sin and use that as a justification for what seems right to me because God has forgiven me.” But Paul asks the question: “Should we sin that grace may about? Certainly not.”

So coming out of this, David tells us to

Enjoy God in everything and with others (1-3)

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Psalm 34:1–3 ESV

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!

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Enjoy God in everything and with others.

Christian living is not incident-free. Christians often feel as though our relationship with God means that we won’t face poverty, sickness, death, relational hardship, and many of the trials others in life face. But that’s contrary to what we see in Scripture. Peter encouraged Christians who were suffering (1 Pt. 4:12) not to be surprised but their trials.

The Lord hears and saves the humble (4-7)

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Psalm 34:4–7 ESV

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.

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The Lord hears and saves the humble

Entice others to taste and see God’s goodness (8-10)

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Psalm 34:8–10 ESV

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.

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Entice others to taste and see God’s goodness

Experience lifelong blessing from the Lord (11-14)

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Psalm 34:11–14 ESV

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.

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Experience lifelong blessing from the Lord

Turn from evil and do good (Prov. 16:17)

God is for those who trust Him (15-18)

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Psalm 34:15–18 ESV

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.

The psalmist is under no illusions. God cares for the righteous, but he will punish the wicked. While he will answer the prayers of the former, he will eradicate all memory (their name) of the wicked. By this observation, the psalmist thus urges his hearers towards a righteous life.

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God is for those who trust Him

Though affliction touches everyone, God’s children will be eternally protected (19-22)

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Psalm 34:19–22 ESV

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.

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Though affliction touches everyone, God’s children will be eternally protected (19-22)

Conclusion

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