Taste and See…
Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good. Blessed is the person who takes refuge in him.
Apparently, the preceding is fairly popular Bible verse, although I had not really paid it much attention. However, a few weeks ago, God made it clear that I needed to pay it attention. I was at a new worship service called the Well a few weeks ago. The leaders had written several Bible verses on small sheets of paper and folded them so that the verses could not be seen. The idea was to let the Holy Spirit lead us into picking a verse that was tailor-made (or God-made) to our needs. My random, God-given verse was Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good. Blessed is the person who takes refuge in him.
I read the verse and meditated on it for few minutes. I could not ascertain what God was saying to me. So, I took the verse back. The next week, I came back to Well and picked up a random verse. When I opened it, I was somewhat surprised to see the same verse as last week: Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good. Blessed is the person who takes refuge in him. Later that week, my wife and I were reading a devotional. The devotional always starts out with a Bible verse. Yep, you guessed it. The devotional started with Psalm 34:8. And it gets better. During our Sunday service, the lead pastor quoted Psalm 34:8 during his sermon.
Needless to say, God had my attention. After careful consideration, I realized that I had been doubting that the Lord was, in fact, good. You see, I am somewhat of a historian by nature. It does not take me long to create a list of really nasty things that God allowed to happen: World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, the Black Death, etc. I had convinced myself that I simply “had questions” as to why a good and perfect God, without a speck of bad in Him, would allow these things to happen. However, after really exploring my feelings, at the core level of my reasoning, I was doubting God’s goodness. Until recently, I would never say it or admit it out of respect for Him, but it was true.
Now, I know the problem. My next step is trying to change the way I think about God’s goodness. I think it was Charles Stanley who said, “There are certain things that I’ll never understand this side of heaven”. That very well may be true, but James 1:5 says…If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. So, I will ask for wisdom to understand the things that I’m capable of understanding, and I’ll learn the rest on the other side of Heaven.
I’m ending all my posts with an invitation to accept Jesus. If you would like at accept Jesus simply pray the following prayer or one like it: “Dear Lord, I’m a sinner. I acknowledge that You sent Your son, Jesus, to die for my sins. I humbly accept Your son, Jesus, and I now further acknowledge that I am forgiven of my past sins, my present sins, and my future sins.” If you prayed that simple prayer, you are saved. Now, you need to follow Jesus. Start reading your Bible. I would suggest starting with Matthew, reading all of the New Testament, then reading the Old Testament. Also, find a good church. Christianity was never meant to be done alone. You need to be in community with other believers.
It’s almost cliché. Everyone says that you can’t live in the past. Don Henley in the “Boys of Summer” said, “A little voice inside my head said never look back. You can never look back.” Joe Dee Messina in her song, “Bye Bye” said, “I got my rear view mirror torn off, and I ain’t never looking back. And that’s a fact.” God also wants us to not live in past. An overriding theme of the Bible is that Jesus died for our past mistakes. Therefore, we are not condemned, but we are free from the guilt and shame associated with our former selves. It can be summed up in the following verse:
