(Psalm 34:8-16)…..Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. 10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. 11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Who is the man 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 Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
David exhorts us to both taste and see that the LORD is good. Both are sensory words that involve personal, intimate, sensory and personal experience. To taste is to intentionally put something in my mouth so that my tongue and my taste buds can explode with excitement at something’s desirable sweetness and texture. To see is to observe, contemplate, process, interpret and to draw a conclusion. David wants the reader to experience God in an intimate way, and to taste and the object that he wants us to see, the goodness of the LORD (that the LORD is good). Can you taste that? Oh what a sweet taste it is! Not in a picture or video, or through someone else’s account, but by personal experience
The beautiful reality of His goodness is that He has His children’s best interests in mind. He is for us and not against us (Romans 8:31-39) (Psalm 33:4-5) (Psalm 52) (Psalm 119:103-104). With your own mouth tell yourself where you personally have tasted and seen His goodness. God is good! Meditate on that statement over and over in your mind this week.
We will taste the sweetness of God’s goodness and see the riches of His goodness when we fully trust (depend) upon Him for our protection and provision. Trusting in the LORD involves our willingness to place our trust (faith) on Him for He is reliable. Trusting in the works of Jesus, not our own, is where we will see His goodness (Titus 3:5-7) (Romans 4:3, 20-22) (Galatians 2:20).