Have You Truly Tasted the Lord?  

During a recent bout of illness, my sense of taste was greatly affected. Nothing tasted as good as it had previously. Additionally, certain foods, no matter how flavorful or spicy I knew them to be, seemed totally bland to my altered palate. I forced myself to eat, but I discovered how difficult and unpleasant it can be to do so when you can’t taste the food.

It reminded me of the declaration expressed in Psalm 34:8: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” I believe that those who sincerely and honestly take the plunge to open their hearts to God will find that He doesn’t disappoint. He is the only One who can truly satisfy that hunger in the innermost part of our being. If we will “taste” Him and put our trust in Him, we will find Him to be everything we had hoped for and more.

However, there are obstacles to be overcome in connection with this important “taste test.” We often allow our preconceived ideas about God get in the way of our willingness to experience Him fully in our lives. It is similar to when one of my grandchildren refuses to eat a certain food while declaring that he doesn’t like it. But when I respond by asking if he has ever tried it, he sheepishly squirms and shakes his head. In reality, he doesn’t like the look of the food or what he has heard or assumed about it, but he hasn’t really tasted it for himself. And too often those negative ideas we imagine color our perspective whenever we do try something for ourselves. We have already convinced ourselves that we are not going to like it before we ever taste it.

People do that with God. They get certain ideas about Him that are hard to overcome. Maybe they think He is totally bland and that following Him would be a life void of spice and fun. Or maybe they have this picture of an angry, harsh God who takes pleasure in the suffering of people. Others may go to the other extreme and imagine a God who is so sweet and sugary that they can’t take Him seriously or have proper respect for Him and His authority. Whatever our misconceptions about God may be, we need to see Him and receive Him for who He truly is. The Bible gives us the true, balanced picture of God. Like the bowl of porridge in the old fairy tale, He isn’t too cold or too hot – He is just right. He is good.

However, another problem is that we let our taste get skewed by our sin and selfishness. God doesn’t taste good to us because we don’t want to give up our ideas or behaviors and submit ourselves to Him. As the psalmist indicated, to taste Him is to trust Him. We haven’t really given God a chance if we haven’t actually gone so far as to put our trust in Him, His Word, and His way of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. Some people have gotten a taste of religion by attending church, saying prayers, reading the Bible, and rubbing shoulders with Christians. And in some cases, it has admittedly left a bad taste in their mouths. But they haven’t really tasted God until they have given Him their hearts and trusted Him enough to let Him have His way in their lives.  

Have you truly taken a taste of the Lord? Have you gone beyond religion and actually put your trust in God? I am confident that if you do, your testimony will be in agreement with the psalmist’s evaluation – the Lord is good.