Taste and See

Psalm 34 has a teacher in it. In verse eleven he gathers a group of children and says, "Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD."

That line tells you what kind of man is speaking in verse eight. He is not suggesting an experiment he has never tried; he is teaching what he has lived through. He has already told the children where his lessons came from: "I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." Two verses later he steps outside his own story and talks about himself the way a stranger might: "This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." He has looked back at his own rescue from far enough away to offer it as evidence.

The invitation he gives is meant to be physical: "O taste and see." He puts tasting first and seeing second. Tasting is a small step you cannot take back, and seeing is what comes after it. He is telling the children that you cannot judge this from a safe distance. He is not embarrassed to admit that he learned it this way himself, out of his own fears.

He is honest about the terms too: "The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing." Even the strongest run out of strength, while the person who keeps seeking God will not be left without what is good.

So if your faith has been secondhand, borrowed from your parents or your pastor, that is not because you lack the brains for it. It is usually because you have never put anything of your own on the table. You cannot get the knowledge first and take the step afterwards. Take a small step today: bring Him one real need and trust Him with it. The psalmist did exactly that, and he lived to teach children that "the LORD is good."

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 316 is Fear Before Him (Psalm 96:9).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna