Taste and See that the Lord is Good

My husband tells the story of his first taste of pizza. He often watched his mother put mushrooms on the pizzas she made. He hated mushrooms. So whenever the family had pizza, CW was more than happy to eat a bologna sandwich. He enjoyed his personalized menu for eleven plus years. Then one day his beloved fifth-grade teacher, who was also a good friend of his mother’s, brought a homemade pizza to his house for the family to try.

Mrs. Martin really wanted CW to taste it. Not knowing a graceful way to get out of it and not wanting to disappoint her, he reluctantly took a small bite. As he chewed, a whole new world opened up for him. He wrote, “Tears shot out of my eyes right there in front of my teacher. I was thinking about all the times I had turned pizza down, all the bologna sandwiches I had eaten while my family was enjoying this food of the gods, and all the good eating I had missed for so many years.” [1]

Not until CW tasted pizza for himself could he truly know how satisfying it was.

In Psalm 34, David wrote about tasting something exceedingly better than pizza. But first, here’s some background. He had fled from King Saul, who was trying to kill him because he was jealous of David’s success in battle and his growing popularity. After receiving food and a weapon from a priest, he fled to Gath in Philistine territory. When the Philistine king, Achish, learned that David was the great man sung about for slaying tens of thousands of Philistines, David’s life was once again in jeopardy. However, God provided an escape (1 Samuel 21).

It was on these events David reflected as he penned Psalm 34. He had feared for his life because of Saul and Achish, and he had been on the run with no provisions; yet his psalm overflows with praise for his God.

Numerous times David writes of crying out to the Lord and of the response he received:

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears” (v.4).

“This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles” (v.6).

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles” (v.17).

David had sought God and seen his goodness. Therefore, he could say to his fellow Israelites with confidence, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8 NKJV). He knew that they would also see the goodness of God if they would only taste for themselves.

We can gain understanding about what David meant by taste from the writer of Hebrews who spoke of those “who have tasted the goodness of the word of God” (Hebrews 6:5).

First of all, what we are tasting is the Word of God. The psalmist said, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103). It is through God’s Word that we see who he is. We see his goodness.

Next, the Greek word for taste means to experience or make trial of (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). We won’t experience God with an occasional nibble. The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night” (Joshua 1:8). The Hebrew word for meditate means to muse, study, ponder (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance).

If you place a grape in your mouth, you will not know if it tastes sweet, tart, or has a berry-like flavor. Put a dab of nut butter on your tongue and you can’t tell if it’s peanut, almond, cashew, or hazelnut. Until you chew the food and allow saliva to break it down, the chemicals cannot get to the taste buds where flavor is identified. [2] In the same way, we savor and assimilate God’s Word. Only when we study to understand and live it will God be able to reveal his good nature to us.

Knowing the scriptures well wasn’t enough for David, though. Another meaning of taste noted above is to “make trial of.” David took God at his Word. In doing so, he was, in a sense, running a trial that would show proof of God’s goodness. But that isn’t to be confused with God having to prove his goodness, because it isn’t in question.

David knew from scripture that God had made a covenant with his people to take care of them if they obeyed his commands (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). So when he was in trouble, he sought “the true God in prayer and worship” (Psalm 34:4) and “cried out for help to the Lord” (Psalm 34:17) (Brown-Driver-Briggs), already knowing God would deliver him. By putting his trust in God’s Word and believing God would do what he said he would, he gathered his own evidence that proved God’s goodness toward him.

We may miss seeing God’s goodness because of overshadowing situations in our lives, or simply because we aren’t looking for it. However, if we dig into God’s Word and personally test it, we can’t miss his goodness. Said another way, we can eat our bologna sandwich while others around the table enjoy slice after slice of pizza, or we can lay the sandwich down and experience a bite of that heavenly food for ourself.

God has told us that if we taste, we will see his goodness. Fork, anyone?

Scripture quotations are from NIV unless otherwise noted.

Hebrew and Greek definitions are from Bible Hub. See Resources.

[1] Safe and Secure in a Tippy Canoe by CW Spencer, p.80.

[2] “Taste Buds”, Cleveland Clinic

Feature photo by Pablo Merchán Montes on Unsplash