Taste And See That The Lord Is Good
O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the LORD, you His saints; For those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing Psalm 34:8-10
The beginning of a book sets the stage for what is to come. The thesis typically introduces the thematic material that will continue to show itself throughout a piece of literature. For example, in Genesis, we see an introduction that sets the tone for mankind. Genesis 3:6 says, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”(Genesis 3:6)
In Genesis, we read about Eve, who saw something that she deemed good, and ate it. This same fruit that Eve desired was one that God had labeled “forbidden.” Eve was quick to dismiss God’s good warnings about the fruit because she let her thoughts drift towards questioning whether God was really good, or whether the fruit was somehow better. Because the fruit looked pleasing to the eye, and “good,” she partook of it. Thus began the fall. Throughout scripture, we see the never-ending struggle of humans on earth. The struggle to possess what we deem “good.”
The Psalms parallel our desire for “good” with God’s truth of what is “good.” Psalm 34:8 says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” This same Psalm ends with, “But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.” When you have had the fullness of God, you won’t desire any other thing. Eve tasted the forbidden fruit, and then she gained the knowledge of good and evil. In her pursuit, she tasted a worldly good that did not satisfy because it wasn’t the good that God wanted for her. Yet this thing that God gave was never meant to satisfy. It was never meant to be an end-all.
The nature of the world is that after we eat, we go hungry once again. Our stomachs go empty and they begin to gurgle and grumble. It’s part of our fall as man to seek and desire fulfillment, only to turn up wanting more. Genesis – the story of Adam and Eve – reminds us that nothing but God himself will satisfy our longings.
