Imagine a massive buffet table, covered with all your favorite foods and some you’ve never had before, but that looks amazing. The aroma of each dish fills your nostrils with delight. Your eyes are wide with anticipation. A seat at the head of the table is reserved just for you.
Despite your cravings and hunger pangs, you never sit down to taste the goodness of it all. You walk away without experiencing it for yourself; you only take others’ words for how incredible it tastes.
What if I told you this is exactly what some people do when they never have a personal relationship with God?
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:6, English Standard Version, emphasis added)!
The Experience of Grace
The New Testament uses more metaphors than the Old Testament, but the word ‘taste’ in this case is exactly that—a metaphor—for the personal experience we can have with God. In the NT, we see that Jesus tasted death for everyone (John 8:52; Heb 2:9; 6:4). In other words, Jesus had a personal experience of death for us, so that we could have a personal experience of Christ as our Lord and Savior.
We can have a seat at the table—a banquet at the palace of a King, prepared just for us. We can experience a personal relationship that satisfies all our cravings and fills the gaps of disappointment and pain—in this life and beyond.
A Choice to be Made
Still, it is a choice. We cannot make healthy choices for ourselves if our knowledge is limited. When I was in an abusive relationship, I thought I had only two choices. I didn’t know about a relationship with God that supersedes all other relationships and keeps me from repeatedly making bad choices.
We sometimes can’t see that our lives and self-worth are not dictated by another person, especially those who do not have our best interests at heart. Think of it this way: We may like cheesecake, and if that is the only thing in front of us when we are hungry, we will eat it. But there are better, healthier options. We shouldn’t eat the cheesecake when God is offering a whole banquet in the palace of a King.
Don’t settle for anything less than God’s best.
Rising into the Light
“Awake, O sleeper and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Eph. 5:14, Emphasis added).
“Arise, shine, for your light has come. The glory of the Lord has risen on you” (Is. 60:1; 9:2; 26:19 Emphasis added).
These verses express a cheerful expectancy of a new day when light, joy, and grace abound in us through Christ, despite our dark past. Enlightenment and grace are available, but they require the choice to “awake” and “arise.” We can wake up, taste God’s goodness, and let the light of Jesus shine through us and into the lives of others.
A Testimony Shared
The rest of the verse in Psalm 34:8 says, “Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” When God blesses someone, He speaks a good word over them for their well-being. When we bless God, we speak a good word about God’s kindness and generosity. Don’t just take someone else’s word for it; sit at the table yourself. A personal relationship with God isn’t just for our own satisfaction—it’s a testimony meant to be shared with others who are still hungry.
Faith Walk Ministries, Inc. 