Taste and See

Psalms 34:8 is one of my favorite passages. The NIV translation reads "Taste and See that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who takes refuge in him."

I think the reason that this one of my favorite verses is the use of the verbs taste and see. The verse doesn't say "Know that the Lord is good." It doesn't confine God to just mere human knowledge. It pushes us to experience God in a tangible and satisfying way. I think our society gets wrapped up in a head knowledge of the God. The American church begins to focus solely on creating good doctrine (which is important) and having all the right answers based on scripture (which is also important). But, I believe when the emphasis is only placed on knowledge and correct answers, and leaves out the very important part of an encounter with the living God then, we begin to create an idol of knowledge. And when we create idols of earthly things...well we all know what happens there.

This past week at church we sang a song by Jenn Johnson called "O Taste and See" Click here to listen to the song on her myspace. People were jumping around, dancing, playing tambourines, and shouting praises at the top of their lungs. It was a celebration like none other. No one wanted to stop worshiping! It was really fun stuff. Let's just say that God showed up and everyone walked away hoarse and happy.

Psalms 34:8 makes it apparent that we are not supposed to just know things about God and have all the right answers but, we are supposed to experience the goodness of the Lord. So, rather than just having a small taste of his goodness I pray that this week you (and I :) will experience a life-changing, earth-shaking encounter with the Creator of the Universe, that you will FEAST on his goodness, and walk away a changed person!