Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. (Psa 34:8-14 ESVESV)
Don’t take my word for it. When was the last time you used this statement? Usually we say it when something just sounds too good to be true. Statements like, “Ireland is green,” or “Hawaii is a paradise,” or “soft boiled eggs on toast is good.” Until you’ve seen Ireland or Hawaii or tasted soft boiled eggs on toast, these statements don’t incite a visceral reaction. It’s almost like David is daring someone here. He’s saying, “See for yourself, the Lord is good.” It also evokes a visceral reaction for those who know that the Lord is good! It brings us to nodding our heads in emphatic agreement.
Do we say this in our words and actions? Do we say, “Look! The Lord is good. Don’t take my word for it, see for yourself.” Who are we saying it to? I don’t know about you, but I’m awfully isolated. I suppose it doesn’t help that I’m antisocial, but doesn’t the Word say, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” How can we step out of our comfort zones? Are you praying for friends to come to the Lord? It certainly won’t happen without the work of the Holy Spirit, and we need to intercede on their behalf.
There we are, right? Share your faith with your friends. Ah, but as the author of The Great Omission points out, we can’t stop there. David goes on to teach us how to taste and see. Jesus says in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Wait a second! Doesn’t He mean go and make converts? Maybe it was translated wrong. It’s all Greek to me…. Never mind. The word here means either to follow precepts and instructions or to teach or instruct. Teach or instruct. That sounds an awful lot like what David is doing in Psalm 34. It’s not enough to pray our friends in the door, we’re called to make disciples. Who are you pouring into? Whew, talk about Christian jargon. Who are you deliberately teaching and instructing in the Way? Pastor Flack said Sunday that the Gospel isn’t the safety instructions at the beginning of the flight, it’s the whole flight plan. Who’s co-pilot are you?
My reaction to this kind of teaching? I don’t have it together yet. I’ll disciple when things are going right. After all, look at the heroes of the Bible. They had it together. David, Peter, all the other disciples…. Oh wait, not exactly stellar flawless guys. Matter of fact, doesn’t it seem like God uses the unlikely guys to do His work? Why? “When we are weak, He is strong.” Brings us right back to God receiving glory! When it is so terribly obvious that we can’t do something, and God works through us to get it done, it just shows how the Lord has worked.
I’m always reminded of this on Sunday mornings when things don’t go so well. You know, everything sort of collapses in on itself. The screen doesn’t sync perfectly. The guitar strings snap in the middle of a verse, forcing an a capella chorus. My brain fries in the middle of a prayer. Almost without exception those are the Sundays where I hear how wonderful the worship was. Certainly not me, but God be praised. This is how we should be with discipleship and evangelism. Let’s step out in faith. We’ll mess stuff up, because we are only human, but at the end, God will be praised!
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