Taste and See - Martin Wiles

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Psalm 34:8 NLT

I smelled, but I didn’t want to taste.

A recent bout with the flu made me remember how much I detested cough medicine. I wondered why pharmaceutical companies couldn’t make a cough medicine that’s pleasant to the palate. That’s why I go for the capsule or tablet when they’re available.

I’ve always been a smeller. Mom often said, “Just taste it.” I repeated the statement with my children. Why we have the tendency to smell before we taste I’m not quite sure. But if something smelled offensive, I wasn’t about to taste it—unless I was forced to. Things like rutabagas, collards, turnips, and fish. Things so offensive that the smell wafts through a house and infiltrates every piece of furniture and clothing. Things so offensive that some choose to cook them outside. But Mom made me taste them, and amazingly I liked them. My smell had deceived me. I learned that smell and taste aren’t always equal.

The psalmist challenged people to taste and see how good God was. Granted, tasting a person seems a little weird. In fact, tasting a person could fall into the category of cannibalism. Jesus said something similar when He established the Lord’s Supper and told the disciples that drinking the wine was equal to drinking His blood and that eating the bread was the same as eating His body. The very reason why early Christians were accused of cannibalism.

Jesus never meant for believers to participate in cannibalistic behavior. We can’t; God is spirit. Yet, we can ingest Him into our lives. I taste and see how good God is when I acknowledge my sinfulness and turn to Christ for assistance. But that’s just the beginning of tasting the goodness of God. Sin may appear to taste good, but forgiveness tastes better.

I continue to taste the goodness of God through prayer, Bible study and meditation, and experience. Praying to God fills me when life gets tough, when I face difficult decisions, and when I need comfort. Meditating on God’s Word fills me by reminding me of God’s promises. And experience fills me as I remember how good God has been in the past and how He promises to be good in the future.

Some food may taste just as it smells, but God always smells and tastes good. Give Him a try.

Tweetable: Have you tasted God's goodness?

Prayer: Father, we acknowledge Your goodness in the pleasant and in the unpleasant times. 

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