trbccoffeebreak

“In my desperation I prayed, and the LORD listened; he saved me from all my troubles. For the angel of the LORD is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him. Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!”   Psalm 34:6-8 (NLT)

My beautiful daughter was married a few years back and there were so many things we were excited about and cake sampling and food sampling were at the top of the list! Trying out yummy food for free and in small samples so we could justify the calories??  Who came up with this idea??  Yes! Sign us up-it was a win-win situation!!  And we did! We oohed and aahed and tasted yummy treats that we would not normally eat on a day to day basis. We moved forward with the menu and the cake. We received many compliments on how fresh and savory the food was at her wedding. We graciously responded, but in reality, all we did was sample it. We ultimately did not make the food, and we were not even present when the food was being bought, prepared, or served.

This is what God asks us to do in Psalm 34:8.  He tells us to “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  He invites us to sample His goodness out. Try Him. He is so confident that if we really understand Who He is and how much He loves us, we will choose Him! Taste, not eat, not scarf down, not listen to someone else tell us how ‘delicious’ He is, taste Him for yourself. He will do the rest!

After we have that first bite of kindness, comfort, and unimaginable love, we will “taste” God’s goodness. He tells us not only can we hide in Him as our refuge, but that He will bless us and give us joy!

I was not intending to move forward in Psalm 34, but WOW! God keeps pulling me back to it, so let’s look at where we’ve come so far in Psalm 34:6-8.

When we are desperate, the Lord will listen, and He will answer.

When we recognize Who He is, He will guard us and defend us, even from ourselves.

While we are in the midst of these desperate situations, God tells us to taste His character and hide in Him and He can even give us joy. Not joy because of the painful circumstances but joy because of Who He is.

Don’t you love that when we are desperate, God gets it. He knows us and He knows we are weary and discouraged and confused and every cell in our body aches. I actually tend to lose my appetite when life hits hard. God does not call us to the table for a big meal, He does not tell us to rise and run to Me, He simply says, “Taste.”  He knows our desperation, and He asks us to talk to Him, remember He is the King of Kings, and to try Him out with just a little bite. He knows that if we do that others will see His kindness to us and how He has carried us. We are sharing Him without words.

I would encourage you to read Psalm 34 today. We can try anything to get rid of the pain and move forward, but God reminds us just a taste of Him is enough to see His goodness and find our safety in Him.

“Father, please show us today how we can have a ‘taste’ of You when we are struggling to see You in our most desperate situations.”

For His Glory

Terrie Tollerson
TRBC Women’s Ministry