Experiencing God's Presence #132

Experiencing God's Presence #132

Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Psalm 34:8

A restaurant owner at the food court in the local mall is aggressive in his tactics. He offers a sample not only to those who walk by his counter; he waves and shouts loudly at those passing by on the other side of the dining area. He takes eye contact, even from a hundred feet away, as a commitment to try his food. He wants everyone to taste it because he believes it’s the best around.

David urges his readers to taste and see that the Lord is good. In other words, “try Him out.” That may seem a little too transactional for our spiritual sensibilities, but it’s nonetheless biblical. God Himself, through the prophet Malachi, issued a similar invitation centuries later: “Test me in this,” He said about tithing, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” (Malachi 3:10, NIV). He wants His promises to be tried and tested. He wants His Presence to be tasted. He wants to be sampled because He knows He’s the best around.

There are times in our relationship with Him when we wonder if He’s ever going to come through for us, when our current circumstances contradict our hopes for the future, when the tension between our desires and our experience is almost too much to bear. In those times, we can hear Him say, “Do you trust Me?” And if we can take a deep breath, let go of our intensity, and say yes, we will find Him to be trustworthy. That’s the promise. If we can take a heartfelt step and cast ourselves completely on Him, we will find joy. Those who taste will experience the best there is.

Lord, I cast myself on You—completely. I let go of my anxieties and agendas and say yes to trusting You. Let me taste and see the depth of Your goodness.