Taste and See
Psalm 34, 03/07/2021, Remsen Bible Fellowship
Happy Siesta Nursing Home, 08/31/2022
Introduction:
In his poem, “Prayer”, the Anglican Poet Geroge Herbert gives some 28 descriptions of what prayer is. One of the most memorable of these descriptions is “the soul in paraphrase.” In turning to God in prayer, if we are open and honest with him, we are in a sense paraphrasing those things nearest and dearest to ourselves. We are communicating what is of deepest value to us. We are baring our souls before him. What does that say about your prayers?
The title of this Psalm tells us it’s setting. OF DAVID, WHEN HE CHANGED HIS BEHAVIOR BEFORE ABIMELECH, SO THAT HE DROVE HIM OUT, AND HE WENT AWAY. David wrote this while fleeing from Saul. In this time, he headed straight into the arms of Achish, the king of Gath. Which turned out to be a bad idea. The Philistines hated David, who had killed thousands of Philistines. And so he fears for his life, and changes his behavior in an attempt to preserve himself. But while Psalm 56, set at the same time, emphasizes the fear David experienced, and how he processed that fear, here in Psalm 34 we have a different focus. Psalm 34 is about tasting and seeing the goodness of God.
This psalm falls roughly into two parts, first David’s testimony to God’s goodness (1-10) and second, David’s teaching on the proper response to that goodness (11-22).
Title:
(skip this paragraph on 8/31/22) Before we dive into the meat of the text, though, we should say a couple of things about the title itself. You may remember, either from me just saying it, or from our study last week, that in 1 Samuel 21 the Philistine king is named Achish. But here he is referred to as Abimelech. Is this a discrepancy? No. Abimelech seems to have served as a title for the kings in this region of Palestine going clear back to the time of Genesis, similar to the term Pharaoh in Egypt or Ceasar in later Rome.
The second fact of note in the title is this phrase, “changed his behavior.” Some translations say “changed his countenance”, but a literal rendering into English might be something along the lines of “changed his taste.” That wouldn’t make any sense to us, hence the translators choice of words that match both the original meaning and story we are supposed to remember from 1 Samuel. But that phrase “changed his taste” will connect for us later in the story. Taste is an important part of this Psalm. David acted without taste, but God would nonetheless deliver him. To quote William MacDonald, “This episode was certainly not one of the more heroic or brilliant chapters in the psalmist’s checkered career, but he nevertheless looked back upon it as a dramatic deliverance by the Lord, and so he wrote this Psalm to celebrate that event.”
As we move through this Psalm I just want to walk through, stanza by stanza, allowing both David’s praise and his instruction to wash over us.
I will always bless the Lord! v1-3
I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
David opens this Psalm exulting, rejoicing in God. I will bless the Lord at all times, he says. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Should this not be the aspiration of every believer? David has just been through some rough circumstances, ones in which he has not always acted in the wisest or most godly fashion. And yet here is the impulse, I think, which is why God can say earlier in 1 Samuel that this is a man after his own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). David is not a man after God’s heart because he lacks sin. He abounds in sin! But his heart is a heart after God’s own because, though he often falls, and though enemies press him from all around, his heart makes its boast in God alone.
And David invites us into this response, Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! David wants you to read this Psalm and realize, whatever your circumstances, that this is a God whom you can join him in praising. No one is worthy of praise like the God of David, let the humble hear and be glad! As Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Ever wonder what God’s will is for your life? Paul just said it’s this: join David’s praise song!
For He Delivers! V4-7
I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Note the way the logic moves. Verse 4, I sought the Lord, and he answered me...verse 5, Those who look to him are radiant. There is a move from the particular (his own experience) to the universal (what is true of all those who look to God). We see this again in verse 6 and 7, This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him...The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. As Derek Kidner writes, “If the sequence in verses 2 and 3 was in essence ‘I have reason to praise him; join me’, here it is ‘This was my experience; it can be yours.’”
When you read the scriptures do you just read interesting stories, things which happened long ago? Or are you looking to see what can be learned of the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever? The same God who heard the prayer of David still sits on his throne. He is still eager to make radiant the faces of those who look to him. The same God who heard David’s cries for help will hear your cries for help.
In The Message translation/paraphrase of the Bible, Eugene Peterson regularly translates el shaddai, or God Almighty, as the God of Angel Armies. And that is a useful mental phrase picture here. The angel of the Lord, the leader of his hosts, encamps, with those armies, around those who fear him. Does anything seek to harm you? If your confidence is in the Lord it has to come through him first.
Taste this Goodness! v8-10
Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
David closes the testimony portion of the Psalm with an even clearer invitation in: taste and see that the Lord is good! This might seem strange to us. How in the world can I taste that the Lord is good? This sounds weird, even disturbing. But language like this helps us to see that when in other places we are told to know the Lord, what is being spoken of is not a mere intellectual understanding. God doesn’t want to bypass your brain, your brain is important. But there can be a world of difference between comprehending certain verbs, nouns, and adjectives and actually trusting the truth they communicate. It’s one thing to know “God is good.” It’s another thing to taste and see.
Jonathan Edwards, in his book the Religious Affections, puts it this way: “Spiritual understanding primarily consists in this sense, or taste of the moral beauty of divine things.” He elsewhere uses the analogy of honey. It is one thing to know in your mind “honey is sweet.” But until you have tasted with your tongue that sweetness, those words have no meaning to you. Do you know this taste of the moral beauty of divine things? Have you tasted and seen that the Lord is good?
If you haven’t, I don’t think verses 8 & 9 will make much sense to you. What does he mean those who fear him have no lack? How can he say that those who seek the Lord lack no good thing? If my perspective is one set on this world these are obviously nonsensical, even dangerous statements. But if you have tasted the goodness of the Lord, if your taste buds have had this experience of ultimate good, then your spiritual appetites will be changed. The young lion is looking for a meal. And sometimes he goes without. But the follower of Jesus Christ has another kind of bread that isn’t dependent upon changing circumstances. In John 4:34 Jesus says, “My food is to do the work of him who sent me.”
I don’t want to diminish the very real fact that God is happy to provide our daily earthly needs. Sometimes his provision comes in such surprising and generous ways that we can’t even comprehend it. But I also want your heart to know that there is another kind of bread and milk, and even if you run out of the kind from the store, you will still lack no good thing if your communion with God is made deeper through the milk of his word and the bread of his word. 1 Peter 2:2-3, Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
We now turn from the invitation to praise the Lord and taste his goodness, to instruction on how to respond rightly to that goodness once we have tasted it.
Turn from Evil, v11-14
Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
Derek Kidner is again helpful here: “the good you enjoy (12) goes hand in hand with the good you do (14). It is an emphasis which answers the suspicion (first aroused in Eden) that outside the will of God, rather than within it, lies enrichment.” Do you have that same suspicion? That doing things your own way is the place to find true joy and happiness? David says, “wrong!” Would you see good, and have a long life? Then turn away from sin, put away lies from your tongue. What should you pursue instead? Doing good. And then a doubling up of the pursuit of peace-seek peace, and pursue it. Peace will only be found in following God. As Paul says in Titus 2:11-14, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Turn Your Heart Over to Him, v15-18
The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
When I’m writing notes of condolence or sympathy to those who are experiencing trials or loss, I don’t know if I quote any verses more frequently than Psalm 34:18. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. What a precious promise. And as we look at verse 15, the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry, our minds are drawn back to Psalm 56:8, You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
If you choose to disregard the Lord, verse 16 warns that you are cutting yourself off from the source of life, the source of joy, the source of help. But those who are righteous-that is, those whose hope is the Lord-they have a sure and strong help. In the words of William MacDonald, verse 17 tells us “the Lord does not deliver [believers] from troubles; He delivers us out of them. Believers are not immune to troubles, but they do have a Mighty Deliverer! That’s the crucial difference.”
Take Refuge in Him, v19-22
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
Have you tasted the goodness of the Lord? Have you sung what Larry Norman called that “sweet sweet song of salvation?” Here’s the bad news-that’s no ticket out of bad times. Many are the afflictions of righteous. But the good news? We have a deliverer. Luke 21:16-18, “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish.” That’s a tension that, as believers, we really aren’t comfortable with. But it’s one scripture gives us both in the Old Testament and the New. To walk with God doesn’t exempt us from the general suffering of a sin-soaked world: death, illness, betrayal, and on and on. Further, hanging a “Jesus is Lord” sign over our lives makes us the target of those who are his enemies. Don’t think it strange, 1 Peter 4 says, when the fiery trial comes upon you.
But we have this hope: though affliction will one day slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned, the believer in Jesus Christ will come through all of his or her suffering and not one hair of your head will perish. Or in the words of our Psalm, none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. Why? Because Christ took all of our condemnation on the cross. He soaked up all of God’s wrath for our sins, such that all of our suffering in this life is not a form of punishment, but of purifying. Do you trust in Jesus as the one who has taken your sins? Then whatever your circumstance in life, you can praise him, because there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Have you tasted that goodness? If so, praise him. At all times. Let his praise never leave your mouth.
