These words breathe the spirit of ardent love to God and man. Having tasted the goodness of God himself, the psalmist longs that others may partake of his happiness and have fellowship in his joy. The grace of God, known and enjoyed, expands the heart, frees it from selfishness, and fills it with Christlike compassion.
“The more I find Him precious,
The more I find Him true,
The, more I long to witness
The selfsame bliss in you.”
Such is the spirit in which this invitation was given at first, and in this spirit the writer would address you now.
1. Consider the invitation. “Taste and see.”
You are invited to apprehend and believe in His goodness as a real fact. If you do not know of food and believe in its suitability, you are not likely to taste of it. Knowledge and belief must precede experience. Hence if you would taste and see the goodness of the Lord, study to know it as revealed in Christ and in His Word. You are invited to look into, consider, and examine the fact that the Lord is good; not that this is tasting, but under the guidance of the Holy Spirit it leads to it. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” “They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee.”
You are invited to test His goodness, to make trial of it, and prove it. When people go into the market to purchase food, they often taste to see if it is sweet and wholesome. They do not buy upon mere report, nor even trust the sight of their eyes, but test it in the most practical way. The goodness of God can only be known by tasting; it cannot be known by report alone, much less by speculation; it must be experienced to be truly known. The power and virtue of the atonement of Jesus Christ can only be known to those who find deliverance from guilty fear, and peace with God thereby. The fact that God hears prayer is known only to those who sincerely pray. The truth of God’s Word is proved in trial and need. True religion is life, not theory; experience, not experiment. For this reason it must be tested. You could not by argument prove the sweetness of honey to one who had never tasted it; it must be tasted if its sweetness is to be known.
A little girl was eating an apple, and she exclaimed, “Oh, how sweet!” “How sweet?”
asked one near to her. She replied, “I cannot tell you. Taste and see.” No preacher, however eloquent, no book, however clear, can tell you how good the Lord is. All we can say is, “O taste and see.”
You are invited to appropriate His goodness and make it your own, Tasting is the truest way of appropriating. No one can take from you what you have eaten, it has become a part of yourself; so make the goodness of God your own.
Martin Luther says, “I call this tasting, when I do with my very heart believe that Christ hath given Himself for me, and that I have a full interest in Him, that He beareth and answereth for all my sins, transgressions, and harms, and that his life is my life.”
Jonathan saw the honey in the wood; he put forth his staff, tasted it, and his eyes were enlightened. Thus with you. You must taste yourself: you must believe that “whosoever” means you personally, and then appropriate the promised blessing to yourself; and in this personal appropriation you will see that the Lord is good.
2. Consider the argument by which the invitation is enforced, or the assured result of accepting it. “Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.”
This is the testimony of one who had tasted and who was trusting, and he seeks to persuade others by arguments taken and drawn from his own experience. It is the testimony of all who trust in the Lord. All confess that faith in Him is the secret of all true blessedness.
They are blessed in their freedom. Trust in God, as He has been revealed in Christ Jesus, sets the heart free from guilty fears, oppressing cares, and crushing responsibilities. In everyday life we all know the relief that comes to us when we can trust the matter that distresses us in the hands of a faithful, influential friend. Such is the relief that comes to those who trust themselves and all their interests in God’s hands. In the fact that He has engaged to perform and perfect all things for them they find full relief. “The peace of God which passeth all understanding” keeps their hearts. Experience proves that unbelief means worry; faith means rest.
They are blessed in their possessions. The word “blessed” is plural, and means that every blessing is bestowed upon him who trusts in the Lord. He is blessed in all and with all. All the fruits of Christ’s redeeming love, all the graces and consolations of the Holy Spirit, all the promises and privileges of the gospel, belong to those who make the Lord their trust―they are heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ. Blessings innumerable, priceless, eternal, divine, are here and now assured to each believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3)).
They are blessed in their position and standing before God. In Christ Jesus they are made nigh by the blood of His cross. Sin, which caused distance, has been expiated; divine justice has been honored and satisfied; the Surety is accepted and seated at the Father’s right hand. In Him the believer is accepted; is loved as He is loved, near as He is near, righteous as He is righteous. Such is the blessed position of all who believe.
They are blessed in their prospects. God has promised never to leave nor forsake them; to be with them in trouble, to deliver and honor them; to be with them in death and give them the victory over death, and then to give them a crown of life; to raise them up at the last day and glorify them together with His Son. Such is the blessed hope of those who trust in the Lord—a hope which God Himself has said shall never be put to shame. Such is the reason given why you should taste and see that the Lord is good.
In tasting you accept and trust; by tasting trust is confirmed and strengthened, and thus you become blessed now blessed for evermore.
“O what shall we do the Saviour to praise,
So faithful and true, so plenteous in grace,
So strong to deliver, to save from all harm,
The weakest believer that leans on His arm!
How happy the man whose heart is set free,
The people, O God, that are joyful in Thee!
Their joy is to walk in the light of Thy face,
Forever to talk of Thy mercy and grace.”
O. T.