Psalm 34:8-10 Taste and See that the Lord is Good!

When Jesus had fasted for forty days, the devil tempted Him to turn rocks into bread. Jesus responded by quoting the Pentateuch, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4; Luke 4:4; cf. Deut. 8:3).

God is not only our Creator, but our Sustainer. "In Him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). There is something about fellowship with God that nourishes us and sustains us during the darkest trials. I have read testimony after testimony of Christian martyrs who praise God while enduring horrible torture. Even as evil men inflict pain on these saints and refuse to provide any sustenance for them, God miraculously preserves them.

Jesus is the bread of life. Whoever comes to Him will hunger and thirst no more (John 6:35). Whoever believes in Jesus will find that He sustains them in their every trial. If only they would taste and see that the Lord is good!

That is David’s plea in Psalm 34:8-10. Please read those verses now.

The metaphor of “tasting God” is understood in light of those passages mentioned above. Jesus is the Sustainer of all creation, and if we would have fellowship with Him, we must allow Him to come into us and change us from the inside out. We must eat of His body and drink of His blood.

To “taste” God does not mean, “try God out.” You cannot come to God that way. If you “try being Christian,” you will fail. Christianity is not something you do. Rather, to taste God means to eat of His body and drink of His blood – to accept the free gift that Christ offers of Himself for the forgiveness of our sins. You cannot simply dip your toe into the pool of Christianity and pull it out if the water is too cold; you must dive headlong in if you are to experience its depths.

Many people are scared to dive in. They have seen others dive in and drown by their worldly standards. They have seen others who are wet because they dipped their toes in, but no longer want anything to do with the pool. And they have heard others talk about how dangerous the water is, and how only a fool would dive into such a pool.

But the only way to taste and see that the Lord is good is to fully trust in His mercy and grace for the salvation of your sins. You must come to Christ humbly and completely. You must surrender to Him as your Savior and Lord by repenting of your sins and believing that He died for you. If you take refuge in the Lord in this manner, then you will truly be blessed.  You will be called His Saint and you will have no lack.

I do not mean that you will have no material lack. Many Christian saints have lost everything for the sake of following Jesus. But God will so fill you with His Holy Spirit, and so sustain you in your time of need, that you will never truly be without. Even the most powerful beasts of the wild suffer want and hunger; even the richest, most famous people in our world suffer from pain and heartache, but “those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”