Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
Psalm 34:8
Have you ever felt alone and as if God is no longer involved in your life or decision-making? Is God out there somewhere? Why doesn’t he hear my prayers anymore? I feel like I’m just talking to a wall, and my prayers never get through the top floor of my house. God, if you’re there, why don’t I feel you and know you’re actively involved in my life?
These are questions many people struggle with from time to time in their relationship with God. Things don’t go right, and then we decide to create another path for our lives that takes us down a dark road never meant to travel. Time goes by, and we eventually find our way back to God after suffering recourse from those wrong moves and decisions we made.
I’ve been there and have made decisions that took me down desolate paths. It’s no fun.
God’s word reveals His character!
The psalmist wants us to understand several things from this verse. First, he wants us to understand the sufficiency of God’s word. Look, you and I both know when we taste something good. I’ve had great cupcakes, and I’ve had dry, crumble as you eat them, cupcakes. I would much rather enjoy the great cupcakes. But if I choose to only nibble at them and fail to take a bite, I won’t get to experience all of the flavors together.
On the other hand, if I take a good colossal bite out of one, I get the icing, the cake part, and the two make the cupcake experience so much more.
That’s what the psalmist is trying to get us to understand. He wants us to realize that God’s word needs to be eaten like a meal, not as some small bite experiment.
Perhaps the reason God feels so far away today is that you’ve been away from His word. Is your Bible more closed than open? Are some of the pages sticking together?
The Lord is good, and we experience that through His word. I can’t tell you how many times God’s word encouraged me when I’ve been down and needed encouragement. But every page of Scripture is filled with God’s goodness. All we have to do is feed off of every word.
God’s word brings blessing and shelter
It isn’t easy to take refuge in someone you don’t know. However, if you “taste and see that the Lord is good,” you can then understand how much He loves you and cares for you. And this leads to experiencing the blessings He has for all who take refuge in Him.
A refuge is a safe location or shelter. That is what God wants to be for you. Throughout Scripture, you will find story after story about how God was a safe shelter for those who sought Him. We seek God through by seeking God’s word.
When you put these two phrases together, you see that tasting and seeing is essential for us to trust and seek refuge. Once we see and experience God’s goodness, we should never seek another for refuge.
How about you today? Do you feel beaten and tired? Are you completely over the political climate and discourse between opposing parties? Let me encourage you to desperately seek God through His word and allow Him to be your refuge and safe shelter. That’s what He does because He loves you.
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