By Dennis Pollock
In this study, I want to focus on one verse found in Psalms. We read these words: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8). This is precisely what the increasingly secular population of America needs to do – to find out for themselves, by experience, that God is good. Many atheists and agnostics profess loudly that they see no evidence of God, ergo, He must not exist. But most of these folks are not looking for Him and are quite content, even joyful with the idea of God’s non-existence. After all, if there were a God and if He were anything like the Bible presents Him, holy, and with a lot to say about how we are to live, they would be forced to change the way they are living. That is something that atheists and agnostics are not at all prepared to do.
But these attitudes and biases would dissolve if they were to taste and experience the goodness of the Lord. This “taste and see” verse reminds me of the ladies in grocery stores with little tables full of food products. As you walk by, they offer you a sample of the food which they represent, such as sausage or pizza. They are being paid by the company they represent to offer these small bites of food to shoppers in the hope that once the customer tastes the food, he will be so delighted by it that he will go ahead and buy the whole package and become a regular customer from then on. These companies are so confident in the superiority of their product, that they are willing to pay salaries to these sample ladies, certain that once you taste their sausage, pizza, or pretzel, you will be hooked.
In the verse I shared at the beginning, God seems to feel the same way. “If you taste My presence, My goodness, My word, and My love, you will be drawn to Me from henceforth, and you will be a disciple and follower of My Son, Jesus.” And those of us who are in Christ know exactly what this looks like, because we HAVE tasted the goodness of the Lord, and it was this initial taste of God that drew us to Him and has kept us in Christ for all our days.
Youthful “Romance”
When I was very young in Christ, I was, as most new believers are, in a very fragile state. I didn’t know much about God or the Bible, and to make matters worse, I was not involved in any kind of meaningful Christian fellowship. I was living in a dorm in college and nearly all the young men living around me were unbelievers.
In those days I had no girlfriend, but I wanted one. I wanted a girlfriend who would someday become my wife. I noticed a girl in a psychology course I was taking. She was pretty, with jet black hair, and seemed to have a charismatic personality. I was quickly smitten, and began plotting how I might get to know her and ask her for a date.
But she didn’t sit near me, and it was difficult to figure out a way for us to get to know each other. Being a new believer, I did what believers do when experiencing a strong desire – I started praying.
I had enough sense to know that I must put this matter before the Lord, and so I prayed for two things: 1) that God would show me if she was indeed “the one,” and 2) that if she was the one, He would make this clear to me, so I could move forward confidently in winning her heart and making her the love of my life. Pretty heavy praying for a nineteen-year-old young man!
“Give Me a Sign”
Finally, I decided to ask God for a sign to demonstrate His favor in this endeavor. I had a class that required me to make a long walk to get from class to my dorm, and I asked God if this girl was the right girl for me, He would cause me to see her on a particular day as I made that walk. I rarely, if ever, saw her when I was walking about campus, so I figured that if I saw her on this day, it would be a sure sign that God was approving her as my girlfriend/eventual wife. As I walked back from class that day, I kept my eyes open, and sure enough, there she was walking the other way. She didn’t seem to notice me, but I sure noticed her, and my heart leaped for joy. God had answered my prayers and seeing her was positive proof that we were meant for each other.
When we had a class project that involved laboratory research, I boldly asked her if she would meet with me after class and complete a questionnaire in connection with this project. She agreed, and at the end of my questions, I asked her the burning question that was really on my mind: would she go out on a date with me? Even though I felt that God had definitively told me she was “the one” for me, it was still scary, but my emotions went from fear to depression when she turned me down flat. She made it clear that she had no interest in going out with me.
I went back to my dorm room miserable and feeling my world had come to an end. I had a two-fold source of misery. First, I had lost the woman of my dreams before I ever gained her, and second, it felt like God had let me down. Being rejected romantically is not that big of a deal, especially in your youth. Most of us have had that happen. But being let down by God was a big deal, especially to me in those early days of my walk with Jesus. I even began to wonder, “Is this whole God thing just my imagination? Have I been deceiving myself?” Briefly, I contemplated forgetting it all, giving up on the Bible and prayer, and God and Christ, and going back to my former ways and agnostic beliefs.
No Way
But as I thought about it, I realized that I could never do this. Spending time with God in His word, feeling the warm and loving presence of the Holy Spirit, reading the beautiful stories of Jesus in the four gospels, having the assurance that I was loved by God and possessed the gift of eternal life… All of this was much too sweet and precious to me to give it up for a young lady who had never belonged to me in the first place. Perhaps creating a sign for God to fulfill and then banking all my hopes and dreams on it when that sign appeared to come to pass, well, maybe that wasn’t the best way to discover the will of God.
This experience was in 1973, fifty-one years ago. And I am so, so glad I didn’t allow that disappointment to turn me away from my Savior, Jesus Christ. I have been walking with Him in all those years since then. And you know what? That wasn’t the only disappointment I have experienced and that wasn’t the only time I misinterpreted the will of God for my life. But whatever the disappointments, whatever the pains and struggles, there is no way I could ever turn back. The LORD and I have had too many wonderful experiences together. I have tasted and I have seen that the LORD is good, and I know full well that blessed is the man or the woman or the youth or the child who trusts in Him.
