Destination: Taste

Dear Grace Baptist Family,

   We are continuing our look at “destinations.” It is now officially summer and there are many people who are making plans and preparations for their summer vacation destination.

   I am having us take a look at another type of destination. These are Biblical places that we should visit and linger in and actually make a part of our daily lives.

   Our destination today is, “Taste.”

   Flavors, smells and tastes. We live with the opportunity to use our senses that God has given us. Go to an open Farmer’s Market and there will be all kinds of things to smell and taste. Go down any food aisle in a grocery store and you will see flavors of cereal, flavors of cheese or milk, flavors of soda. Various fruits and spices have smells and flavors and tastes.

   It is part of our amazing creation by God that we have the ability to taste so many different varieties and nuances of flavors.  “The adult human tongue contains between 2,000 and 8,000 taste buds, each of which are made up of 50 to 150 taste receptor cells.”

   There is a passage that takes us to another destination, the destination that we might overlook and can easily forget the illustration that David gives us as he wrote, Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

   Have you done this? Are you doing this?

   David apparently wrote this psalm when he was running from Saul and acting insane—you can read it in I Sam. 21:10-15. These were difficult times for David and when we have difficult times, we need to do exactly what David did in Ps. 34:8.

   We must “taste and see” the goodness of God. We should experience that the Lord is good.

   This concept is repeated throughout Scripture as seen in, 

Psalm 119:103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

1 Peter 2:2–32 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Hebrews 6:5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,

   Typically when we enjoy the taste of something, we desire more of it. We want to have it again…and again. This should be true when we consider the goodness of God. For instance,

Psalm 25:7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

Psalm 31:19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!

Psalm 86:5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 119:68  You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.

Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

Acts 14:17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

   God is good. It is His nature, His character, His being. It is an unchangeable feature of who God is. He is good!

A thing is good to the extent that it is all that it can and should be—namely, perfect. God alone is all that He can and should be. Thus, since God is wholly perfect, lacking nothing, He is the supreme and absolute good. [Sutherland, Grant M. “God’s Goodness.” Lexham Survey of Theology.]

   Have you been tasting of God’s goodness? Or do you have a bitter taste in your mouth? That happens when we are not tasting of God’s goodness—we become bitter about life, circumstances, situations, uncontrollables.  

   When you know, when you are convinced, when you taste that the Lord is good, you will praise Him, you will love Him, you will tell others to praise Him. Knowing that God is good inspires our trust in Him. “…let us therefore be so convinced of His goodness as thereby to be encouraged in the worst of times to trust in Him. “[Henry, Matthew]

   We must tell of the fame of the goodness of God—Psalm 145:7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

   We must be satisfied with God’s goodness—Jeremiah 31:141I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord.”

   We must repent when we fail to “taste and see the goodness of the Lord”—Romans 2:4. Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

   THEREFORE, we must meditate on the goodness of God!

   Take some time to review all the passages that I have mentioned. Look up other passages as well. Meditate on the fact that God’s very nature is one of goodness. Meditate on all the good that God is doing. Meditate on your experience of the goodness of God throughout your lifetime. Meditate on God’s goodness to you in the last 24 hours. Meditate on the long list that will come to your mind of the goodness of God.

   For awhile there was a popular saying—“God is good all the time.” I saw someone add to that by saying, “God is good to me all the time.” It has to be true because that is who God is. He is good.

   So go to the destination of taste and see the very goodness of God!

   Please pray for our services this Sunday, please pray for me as well. I look forward to worshiping the Lord with you. I do hope you will be able to join us in person.   

In Christ,

Wynne Kimbrough

Your Pastor