The goodness of God is all around us.
Autumn in the Midwest brings crisp air, colorful leaves, and s’mores by the fire pit. The season also means that pumpkin spice is everywhere on foods you never imagined.
We were recently at Silver Dollar City with our daughter’s family. The Harvest Festival of “Pumpkin Nights” was in full swing. Thousands of pumpkins were creatively displayed and glowing throughout the park.
The Park featured concessions seasoned autumn flavor—pork with pumpkin barbecue sauce, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin and sausage pizza, pumpkin mac & cheese, and pumpkin cappuccino–to name a few. Pumpkin spice was in foods that I never imagined!
Many of those foods didn’t appeal to me. I’m cautious in trying new tastes. I was skeptical at trying the pumpkin ice cream, but when I tasted it, I could have eaten more. I was won over to a new flavor.
Taste and see the goodness of God.
What does this mean?
David describes experiencing the goodness of God through the senses.
Taste in Hebrew means “to taste or perceive.” A flavor is perceived through the sense of taste—a sampling of sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory. Each taste is a unique experience. See in Hebrew refers to sight, perceiving something with visual understanding. We experience and process information through our senses in a tangible way.
As we grow in faith, we learn to trust God and desire more of Him. We “taste” how the Lord leads when we seek Him through prayer and reading the Bible. We “see” how He works in the changing seasons of creation and in our lives. We process the information and experience God in our lives.
Bible commentator Matthew Henry wrote: “Let God’s goodness be rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel.”
I don’t think David the psalmist had pumpkin spice in mind when he wrote Psalm 34:8.
Perhaps he meant that we can see the goodness of God as we follow the Lord in faith and obedience.When we seek our good heavenly Father, we desire more of Him, like a tasty food. He fills us with the fruit of the Spirit as we grow in Him, as we taste and see His goodness.
Have you tasted His goodness lately?
