It Only Takes a Taste

"O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good!

Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) 

is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him."

Psalm 34:8 AMP

"How will I know he's the one?"  It's a question asked through the ages by young women yearning for their prince, their knight in shining armor, their future husband.  This sentiment also has been applied to God.  People throughout time have wondered, How do I know what the Bible says is true?  How can I be sure God really is good?  What if I put my trust in Him and it's all proved to be a sham, a big cosmic joke?

There is always a certain risk when it comes to matters of faith.  After all, that's what faith is: Believing something is true in the absence of evidence.  While I can see plenty of proof all around of a good God who loves us; the complexity of His creation, so-called coincidences that are just too good to be mere happenstance, a marriage between two people who love each other through thick and thin, it can be argued that I see these things because I know God for myself.  I love Him and have committed my life to Him through faith in Jesus Christ.  I believe so it could be said I only have eyes for Him.  I'm brainwashed, so to speak.

If this is true, then all I can say is what David expressed in today's passage.  "Try God out for yourself and then see all the ways He makes your life better.  You'll never know for sure until You give Him a chance in your own life!"  

What can I expect if I give Him a chance?

Deliverance.  Not from my problems.  Not from hardships.  Not from difficulties.  Submitting myself to God through faith in Jesus Christ will offer another kind of deliverance.  I will find freedom from fear as I begin to relate to God as a child to a loving, powerful and sovereign Father.  If He is my refuge and strength, bigger than any problem or crisis I face, what do I have to fear (Psalm 46:1- 3)?

In addition, shame will be gone as I realize the forgiveness Jesus has secured through His blood sacrifice (Hebrews 9:22), giving me the opportunity to live with the confidence that my sins have not condemned me.  Not only that, but I have hope, even when it seems there is none.  In Christ, the Conqueror, I can possess an optimistic expectation of what is to come.

When I taste and see that the Lord is good I will find true deliverance.

Abundance.  I often wonder what it would be like to grow up in a wealthy home, to have a father with power and influence, resources beyond comprehension, who loved me unconditionally and had the clout to pull strings to provide the best life has to offer.  Then I remember:  I do have a Father like that!

God is as fatherly as they come, doting on His children and lavishing them with gifts beyond compare (1 John 3:1, Matthew 7:9-11, Ephesians 1:3).  His brand of spoiling is best since He tempers it with discipline, giving me the best of both worlds.  I have all that I need and more, plus the benefit of a firm hand when necessary.  In this way I won't be ruined with getting things my way but am secure in His love as a legitimate child (Hebrews 12:7-8).

When I taste and see that the Lord is good I will discover His abundant gifts flowing throughout my life.

Redemption.  There's something special about the love of God.  He has this power to take that which was meant for my destruction, the very thing that was meant to bring me down, what was introduced into my life to hurt me, and transform it.  God's redemptive power is life-altering (Isaiah 61:3).  

Sin, which came into the world through the disobedience of one man, Adam, spread throughout all the earth, corrupting it and twisting it into something unrecognizable from it's original design.  Still, God is able to take me as a sinful being and redeem my life, transforming it from a downward spiral that ends in death to a beautiful journey that takes me to life eternal (Ephesians 1:8, John 3:16).  

Sin was supposed to be the end of all the good that God made, but God had a plan.  Through Jesus, He was able to buy it back with His blood, giving us the power to live as one who is righteous by faith and the hope of it all returning to it's pre-sin state when Jesus returns (Romans 3:22, Revelation 21) .  His resurrection is proof.  

Not only do I have this salvation from the punishment my sins earned me, but even the weakness of my sinful body can be used for good(Romans 6:13)!  How could anything decent or wholesome come from my heart that is corrupted by sin?  Through Christ, it is made new and I can fulfill the good plan He has for me (Ephesians 2:10)!

When I taste and see that the Lord is good I will know His redemptive power for myself.

It may be hard to believe without some kind of physical, tangible confirmation that God exists.  I can't see Him.  I can't touch Him.  I can't hear Him.  How do I know He's not some figment of my imagination?  If I take a risk and try Him out for myself, putting my full weight on Him and testing Him out, I'll find deliverance, abundance, and redemption.  It only takes a taste, and then there is no going back!

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can trust God enough to take Him at His word.

When do I demand physical evidence before I'll try God on for myself?

How has God changed my life in ways I can't otherwise explain?