Taste and See

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”– Psalm 34:8

What does it mean to taste and see? When we sit down and examine this it brings us into a new world of worship if we truly understand what it is saying to us today…

If we go back to the Hebrew context of this scripture we see that David is inviting us to look into this in a way that we use our senses…It puts us in the mindset that our relationship with Christ is intended to be personal.  The opening comes from the Hebrew words טַעֲמ֣וּ (ta’a-mu) and וּ֭רְאוּ (u-re’u), both primary root words for “to taste” and “to see”.

To taste here can be translated as “to taste, perceive” or even quite literally, “to perceive taste”.  This invites us to do with God as we would do with food.  We are put into a mindset of taking it all in, savoring the flavor and enjoying the moment.  But not only to take it in and savor it, but also see it at work around us, “to see” that God is good!

The word used here for good is טֹ֣וב (to-vv) which leads us to pleasant and agreeable, or good.  God is always working for us, which is shown to us in the second part of this verse in which we see that taking refuge in Him brings blessing on our lives.

I believe that one way we can look at this is by looking at food items on our cabinet shelves.  There are a few small words that are included on many food labels that say, “Artificial flavoring and coloring added.”  These words are there to tell us that a group of chemists have slaved in a lab to make something that is not real as close to real as it can be.  They have created flavor or color that was not originally there to make it taste and look the way that they want us to perceive it…but we cannot do that for our relationship with God.

There is no synthetic relationship with God, it is personal…it is designed to be real, not a substitute.  This is why David is opening us up to tasting and seeing that God is good.  He invites us to see the real thing…not an imitation.  It is like the training that bank tellers go through to recognize counterfeit money; they are never handed a counterfeit bill, rather, they are given the real thing.  They are asked to become so familiar with the genuine product that they can spot the fake immediately.

Are we capable of this in our walk with Christ? We should be…we should become so familiar with the Real Thing that we know when it isn’t real.  We need to really examine our lives and see if we are immersing ourselves with the real, or if we have become comfortable with a false sense of relationship with Christ.

Today, I invite you to “Taste and See that God is good!” Do not lose sight of what is real and allow God to do work in you today that will further your perception of Him and allow others to see what the real thing looks like!

Time

What amazes me is how easily time can get away from you. I think about this in many different ways every day. Sometimes it is parents who are watching their children grow while exclaiming, “How did this happen?” or, “I wish time would just slow down!” Other times it might be that you sit down for a moment and realize that an hour has passed before you knew it.  There are statements like, “Time has a way of sneaking up on you.” And still yet, there are times when we wish for more time to complete a task…

Whatever our desire for time may be, we have to realize that we are not always promised the time that we have…whether it be time to complete a simple task, slowing it down to watch our children grow, or even to make a life changing decision at the last minute.

The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for everything under heaven, a time to mourn, a time to heal, a time for war, a time for peace…and the list continues…but today I want to urge each of you to think seriously about the time that you have and make sure you don’t miss out on what could be the greatest decision you will ever make in your life.  The time to decide who you will follow…

God has called each one according to His purpose, and many times we miss what He is trying to tell us because we continue to want things our way.  We want to “live life to the fullest” and think that we “have plenty of time” to do that.  I’m here to tell you today that you do not have plenty of time…in fact, you are not promised tomorrow.  The Bible tells us that no man knows the day or hour when Christ will return, that he will come like a thief in the night and we must be ready because on that day we will no longer have the chance to repent and turn from our wicked ways.

We may not have plenty of time left because we do not know when something could happen that could change “OUR” plan.  I urge each of you to examine your life and make sure that you are ready…but also, I want to appeal to you in this – our desire to live life to the fullest by seeking worldly ways will only leave us with a hole in our heart that leaves us yearning for more and leaves us struggling with depression and doubt.  The only true way to live our life to the fullest is to allow God to pour out His Spirit in our hearts so that they overflow with His love.

Today, please take a long hard look at your heart and see if you have filled it with the only true, fulfilling love that we can experience here on earth…the Love of God.  Make sure that you have everything in order in case you don’t see tomorrow…remember, we are not promised our next breath, so take every breath in the knowledge that you have a Savior who gave his life and blood to wash away your sins to secure you a home in eternity with Him.