Taste and See That the Lord Is Good

He leads me …

In Psalm 34:8, ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’ is an invitation from David to take God at His word, to trust in the Lord and experience His goodness for ourselves, and to know Him personally, realizing that He loves us more than we can believe. The invitation is ours to receive personally, but it is also ours to extend to others. Basically, David is saying, ‘Try it; you’ll like it.’ David is inviting us to experience what he has discovered: the goodness of God’s salvation.

The main purpose of this psalm is to highlight God’s constant care for His people. In verse 8, the psalm’s author, David, encourages readers to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good.’ So, what does this mean?

To taste involves testing or sampling; to see involves understanding or perceiving. To clarify, the word see is also used in expressions like, ‘Let us go and see how the repairs are going.’ Or it can be used as a response like, ‘Oh, I see what you mean.’ David urges God’s people to discover the goodness of the Lord by personal trial so that they can see what it is like it for themselves. He does not want readers to just take His word for it that God is good; He wants us to actively experience and know for ourselves the fact that God is good.

When David says, ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good,’ in Psalm 34, He is asking us to have a bit of a look back at our Christian walk and see where the Lord has been there for us. Even in the hard times we may not have been happy about what happened, but we can see that we have grown as a Christian because of what the Lord did in our lives. The apostle Peter applies the similar language in 1 Peter 2:3 when he says, ‘You have tasted [what was needed to provide for growth and this experience shows] that the Lord is good.’

Psalm 34 goes on to outline examples of God’s incredible goodness to those who take refuge in Him: He takes care of their every need (verses 8–10); He provides them with a good, long life (verses 11–15); He is with them through troubles and saves them from their enemies (verses 17–22). Those who taste and see that the Lord is good will understand how He provides.

Believers in Jesus can also experience tastes of God’s goodness and grace when we observe the beauty of His creation or recognize His blessings of provision, protection, and care. These experiences provide a glimpse of what Heaven will be like. We also taste and see His goodness when we contemplate His holiness and infinite righteousness. We taste and see His incredible love when we meditate on the cost of Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation.[1]

David continues Psalm 34 by teaching the people of Israel about a life that fits in with God’s will and ways.

Psalm 34:9-15 (TLB) reads –

9 If you belong to the Lord, reverence him; for everyone who does this has everything he needs. 10 Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those of us who reverence the Lord will never lack any good thing.

11 Sons and daughters, come and listen and let me teach you the importance of trusting and fearing the Lord. 12 Do you want a long, good life? 13 Then watch your tongue! Keep your lips from lying. 14 Turn from all known sin and spend your time in doing good. Try to live in peace with everyone; work hard at it.

15 For the eyes of the Lord are intently watching all who live good lives, and he gives attention when they cry to him.

‘Taste and see’ does not mean ‘Test God’s qualifications.’ Instead, it is a warm invitation: ‘Try this; I know you’ll like it.’ When we take that first step toward getting to know God, we discover that He is good and kind. When we begin the Christian life, our knowledge of God is limited and incomplete. This will be the case until we meet God face-to-face in Heaven, but as we invite the Holy Spirit to help us, study the Bible, and get to know other Christians, we begin to have the joy of tasting and experiencing God’s love.

To taste and see is not testing God. So, what does it mean to test God?

The Bible gives us examples of acceptable and unacceptable ways of testing God. But we should be aware that the acceptability of testing God is far more limited than the unacceptability. A test founded in unbelief is unacceptable.

The only time that is specifically mentioned in the Bible is where God invites people to test Him in the area of tithes and offerings. Malachi 3:10 says, ‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. ‘If you do,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ‘I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!’

The Hebrew word meaning ‘test’ in this verse, is Bachan and it means ‘to examine, scrutinize, or prove (as in gold, people, or the heart)’ As putting gold in a fire tests its quality, God invites the Israelites to test Him by the giving their tithes and offerings. Then He proves His faithfulness to them in return.

There is another Hebrew word used for ‘test’ in the Bible which is nacah. It means ‘to put to the test, try, or tempt.’ This word is used in Deuteronomy 6:16, where God commands the Israelites not to test Him.

In general, people test God when they do not have faith in Him or any certainty in Him. The Israelites did this in Massah, while on the way to the Promised Land. When they set up camp in Massah there was no water and the Israelites grumbled to Moses demanding, ‘Give us water to drink.’  And Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me?’ ‘Why do you test the LORD?' But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, 'Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’ (Exodus 17:2–3). Exodus 17:7 says, ‘And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, ‘Is the LORD among us or not?’

This story shows us that grumbling and complaining tests the Lord, as does questioning Him whether He is with us. Both of these things count as testing Him because they show our own unbelief and mistrust of Him and His promises. They show that we do not trust Him because He is not providing for us the way that we want Him to.

When Jesus was fasting in the wilderness, the Devil came to tempt Him (Matthew 4:1–11), and proposed that Jesus ‘prove’ that God's promises were true by doing something that would force God to act in a way that would help Jesus. If Jesus were to put Himself in danger, God would have no choice but to save Him. Jesus refused to go along with this suggestion, and He quoted Deuteronomy 6:16 as a combat to the enemy's temptation (Matthew 4:7–10). Just as Jesus quoted Scripture to come against the Devil, so can we. God is faithful to keep His promises when we are in need, but if we try to test God and make Him move on our behalf by controlling our situations for our own benefit, it becomes evil. This is an unacceptable way of testing God.[2] Our answer? Go back to the Bible.

‘The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into him, that they may delight in his Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God himself in the core and center of their hearts.’ A. W. Tozer

Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Regards, John. This is the final blog in this series. I hope that you have found them beneficial.

[1] What does the Bible say about testing God? What does it mean to test God? CompellingTruth.org;

https://www.compellingtruth.org/test-God.html

[2]What does the Bible say about testing God? What does it mean to test God? CompellingTruth.org;

https://www.compellingtruth.org/test-God.html