[34:1] I
will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. [2] My
soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. [3] Oh,
magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! [4] I sought
the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. [5] Those
who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. [6] This
poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. [7] The
angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. [8] Oh,
taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in
him!
[9] Oh,
fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! [10] The
young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good
thing. [11] Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of
the LORD. [12] What man is there who desires life and loves many days,
that he may see good? [13] Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from
speaking deceit. [14] Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and
pursue it. [15] The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears
toward their cry. [16] The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to
cut off the memory of them from the earth. [17] When the righteous cry for
help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. [18] The
LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. [19] Many
are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them
all. [20] He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. [21] Affliction
will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. [22] The
LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him
will be condemned. (Psalm
34:1-22 ESV)
In Psalm 34 (which is an acrostic psalm), David contemplates the goodness of God and how God extends that goodness to those who are His. He calls people to “taste and see that the LORD is good!” This means that one must “taste” in order to “see that the LORD is good!” but also that if one will “taste,” they WILL “see that the LORD is good!” This is my prayer for you today: that you will choose to “taste” God in every since of the word! Why should we do so? Consider the following three reasons from this chapter.
I.
God is the Summit, Standard, and Source of All
Goodness (34:8)
Before we unpack the expression of God’s goodness
in this chapter, we should first consider what it means to say that God is “good.”
The tricky thing about defining God’s goodness is that any definition of
goodness must begin with God because He alone is good. Jesus
responded to the rich man in Mark 10:18:
“And Jesus said to him, “Why do you
call me good? No one is good except God
alone.” This passage means that God is
the apex, or summit, of all goodness. We could further say that He is not only
good; He is goodness itself.
God is also the standard of all goodness.
Whatever God is, is good because God is that. “The
original Saxon meaning of our English word God is “The Good.” God is not only
the greatest of all beings, but the best.”[1]
What ever God is, does, says, or
approves of is the essence of goodness. See
why I say it is tricky? And in the end,
anything that we call good must square with what God calls good or we are wrong.
But since we must try to define or describe God’s
goodness in some way, a helpful description is that God’s goodness refers to
His benevolent disposition to act for the good of His creation. It is His benevolent disposition to give, to help,
to save, to show concern, to show grace, to show mercy, to show kindness, to
redeem, to graciously provide, etc. It is a benevolent disposition to act for
those who belong to Him and even to act for those who are His enemies.
Finally, the Bible also teaches us that God is
also the source of all
goodness. [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. (James 1:17 ESV) He is
the fount of every blessing. This brings
us to our next point:
II.
God Expresses His Goodness to All People in Some
Ways (34:6,18)
This passage describes how God hears and saves the
poor, oppressed man and is near the brokenhearted and crushed in spirit to save
them (6,18). Now while that should be a
profound encouragement to those who are poor, oppressed, brokenhearted, and
crushed in spirit, what I want to point out is that this is but one example of
God’s goodness towards all people. Not all poor people love God, but He looks
out for them in some way. Not all
brokenhearted people love God, but He looks out for them to some degree.
God’s goodness is expressed to all people in some
ways. Everyone who ever draws a single
breath experiences the goodness of God. [9] The LORD is good to all, and his
mercy is over all that he has made. (Psalm
145:9 ESV) Later, in the same psalm,
the psalmist says, [15] The eyes of
all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. [16] You open
your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. (Psalm 145:15-16 ESV) Every drop of
rain, ray of sunshine, breath of air, morsel of food, ounce of drink, meaningful
relationship, joy, etc. is an expression of God’s goodness to mankind from
their Creator.
Commenting on God’s goodness to all people, Arthur
Pink said, “The goodness of God is seen
in the variety of natural pleasures which He has provided for His creatures.
God might have been pleased to satisfy our hunger without the food being
pleasing to our palates—how His benevolence appears in the varied flavors which
He has given to meats, vegetables, and fruits! God has not only given us
senses, but also that which gratifies them; and this too reveals His goodness.
The earth might have been as fertile as it is without its surface being so
delightfully variegated. Our physical lives could have been sustained without
beautiful flowers to regale our eyes with their colors, and our nostrils with
their sweet perfumes. We might have walked the fields without our ears being
saluted by the music of the birds. Whence, then, this loveliness, this charm,
so freely diffused over the face of nature? Verily, the tender mercies of the
Lord “are over all His works” (Psa 145:9).” [2]
III.
God Expresses His Goodness to His People in All
Ways (34:1-22)
Though God’s goodness is expressed towards all
people in some ways, it is directed to His people in all ways. This passage establishes that the benevolent
disposition of God is expressed to His people in a special way, a way that is not
expressed to all people. To establish
this truth, I first want to point out who
His people are in Psalm 34. In 34:5,
they are described as “those who look to
him.” In 34:7,9, they are described as “those
who fear him.” In 34:8,22, they are described as “those who take refuge in him.” In 34:10,
they are described as “those who seek the
LORD.” In 34:15,17,19, they are described as “the righteous.” And in 34:22,
they are described as “His servants.” In short, they are those who have tasted and
seen that the Lord is good.
It is monumental that in 1 Peter 2:1-3, Peter quotes Psalm
34:8 to describe our conversion. “[2:1] So put away all malice and all
deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. [2] 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. (1 Peter 2:1-3 ESV) Peter describes
being saved, being converted, being a Christian, being atoned for by the work
of Christ as having “tasted that the Lord
is good.” This is because the
supreme expression of God’s goodness toward His people is the cross of Jesus
Christ. The goodness of God moved Him to
send His own Son as a substitute for His people and to have Him crucified and
resurrected for them.
Next, I want to point out the various ways that
God’s goodness is expressed to this group of people who have tasted and seen
that the Lord is good. “Those who look to him” are radiant and
their faces will never be ashamed (5). “Those who fear him” are protected and
delivered by the angel of the Lord and will never lack (7,9). “Those
who take refuge in him” are blessed (happy) and will never be condemned (8,22). “The
righteous” experience the constant, watchful care, attention, and
protection of the Lord, His eyes and ears always being toward them (15,17,19). “His
servants” will be redeemed (22). And
“Those who seek the LORD” will never
lack any good thing (10).
Now when it says that God’s people will never lack
any good thing, notice that it does not mean they will be free of affliction
(19).
It means that though the afflictions of the righteous will be many,
they will ultimately be delivered. In
other words, that God’s people will “lack
no good thing” includes bad things that will be turned for good. This is exactly what Paul says in Romans 8:28-39, that God is working all
things together for our good. There the “good”
that Paul is talking about is our being conformed to Christ’s image. Sometimes severe mercy is required to conform
us to that image. Sometimes a gracious
wound is required to free us from certain sins or to bring us into a deeper
walk with the Lord. And, since that is
our ultimate good, God will be sure that we lack no good thing!
These benefits are only available for His
people. The LORD acts quite differently
to the wicked (16, 21-22). Their memory will be cut off and they
will be eternally condemned. Their
affliction will not be turned for good; it will slay them. Every good thing that they experienced will
turn out to be a slap in the face to their Creator because they refused to be
thankful to Him for it and give Him appropriate glory. If that is you today, come taste and see that
the Lord is good!
I’d like to close with what this psalm is calling
each of us to do. There are three admonitions given here in
light of God’s goodness to His people.
The first admonition is found in 34:3:
“Oh, magnify the LORD.” This means to praise God and to declare how
great He is to others out of humility and gratefulness for His goodness toward
us.
The third admonition (I’m saving the second one
for last) is found in 34:9: “Oh, fear the LORD.” What it means to fear the LORD is
unpacked in verses 11-14: to keep our tongue from evil, our lips from speaking
deceit, to turn away from evil and to do good, and to seek peace and pursue
it. It is by faith (because fear of God
is an expression of faith in God) agreeing with who God says that He is and
what He approves of as good. Now isn’t
it strange that we are told to fear a God who is good? It shouldn’t be, because as Lewis so eloquently
put it, “He is good, but He is not safe.” This is why there is unique combination of
fear and wonder when people experience the presence of God in the Bible. We see it being both a dreadful and a
wonderful thing at the same time. We see
this mentality of, “I shouldn’t be here, but please let me stay!” We are to fear Him and want Him at the same
time!
And finally, the second admonition is found in 34:8: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!” This means to look to, to take refuge in, to
seek, and to fear God, and in so doing become one of His righteous
servants. This Psalm is calling each of
us to taste God and so become one of His people who see that He is good in all
that He does. I want to remind you of
what we said at the beginning, that this verse is tell us that one must taste
in order to see that God is good, but also that if one tastes, they will see
that God is good.
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