Tasting God’s Goodness

Peter says that we ought to desire the pure milk of the word like newborn babes that we may grow thereby, “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” Peter is probably paraphrasing Ps. 34 which we commonly sing a metrical version of which says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him. O fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.” On either side of this confident declaration of the Lord’s provision is David’s declaration that the Lord saves those who cry out to Him, the declaration that His angel constantly encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them. The Lord delivers out of all troubles and is near to those with broken hearts and saves those who are sad and hurting. He guards even our bones and promises that no one who trusts in Him will ever be condemned. Now this Psalm is hard to read when we have had difficult things happen in our lives. When we have been mistreated or falsely accused. When we have suffered from an illness or when have seen a dear loved one suffer greatly or die. And we read that the Angel of the Lord constantly encamps around those who fear Him. Where is God’s justice? Where is His goodness? David and Peter both say that we have tasted it. They say that the reason we know that God is good, the way we know that He will judge righteously, that He will have mercy on the broken hearted and save those who fear Him and destroy those who act falsely and do evil, the way we know that is seen in the fact that God feeds us. Young lions may lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! And so Peter calls us to taste and see that the Lord is good and gracious. And what are we tasting and seeing? We are tasting and seeing that the gospel, the declaration that our sins are forgiven in Christ, that we have been raised to new life in His resurrection, and that we have been adopted into a new family in the church, the family that God loves, the family that God leads, the family that God feeds. So come eat and drink, come taste and remember, come see and remember, that the Lord is good.