Lamp Posts

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Ps. 34:8).

Psalm 34 is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord for being a provider and deliverer in a time of trouble and distress. David tells of an hour in his own personal life when he was overcome by fear and God delivered him. For David, it was something he knew through personal experience. “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears” (v. 4). The Lord is good and David knew it.

So, the psalmist wants others to know that God is good. He will provide for the needs of those who seek him and fear him. As he did for David, the Lord will deliver us in times of trouble.

The psalm contains an invitation and a promise.

“Oh, taste and see…” – An Invitation

David’s psalm offers an invitation to the reader to experience God’s goodness (v. 8). The goodness of the Lord must be tasted. We know some things by teaching, others by experience. God’s goodness is taught in the Bible, but we must experience it to fully appreciate its significance. See for yourself. Remember Jesus’ first encounter with his disciples? There was the repeated invitation, “Come and see” (John 1:35f). Many hear of God’s grace but never experience it. God is good. Come and see for yourself. “Taste and see.”

David’s invitation is motivated by a desire to teach others, especially children, about the fear of the Lord (v. 11). A result of experiencing God’s goodness is the desire to know more about him and to impart that knowledge to others. It should pique our appetite, creating a longing for the pure milk of the word (1 Pet. 2:1-3). Application of its principles in life will result in growth, manifested in word and deed.

“Blessed is the man…” – A Promise

David’s message is, “How blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (v. 8). His psalm describes a transformation in the lives of those who, like him, look to the Lord for help. Faces that before told a story of hopelessness and despair are now “radiant” (v. 5), reflecting the blessedness of hope and joy.

Once you have tasted God’s goodness, your life will never be the same. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6).

Several lines of Psalm 34 appear in the epistle of 1 Peter. Having tasted that the Lord is good, we should be like infants who “long for the pure spiritual milk” of God’s word (1 Pet. 2:1-3). When we apply its teachings, there is a promise, fulfilling a desire to “love life and see good days” (1 Pet. 3:10-12). The goodness of the Lord is especially manifest in the spiritual blessings he has provided through Christ. To taste of God’s goodness is to experience a foretaste of heaven itself. It is a hope that can carry us through anything we face in this life.

Dan Petty