Only Begotten

Psalm 34:8-9,

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.”

I don’t know if you have noticed, but there is a massive spirit of revival at this very moment. God is calling his people. What a time to be alive! Some of those being called to these places of revival might just be coming to the Lord for the very first time, accepting Jesus. What a special time indeed!

Perhaps this is their first taste of his goodness. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Isn’t that an interesting choice of words? But David, author of the 34th Psalm, chose this descriptive. “Taste.” He appeals to one of our very favorite senses in this verse!

Now, I don’t know about you, but I have a real, solid appreciation for all of the things that the Lord gives us which grow from the earth. Do any of you have a very favorite fruit (or vegetable)? I do!

I want you to think about what your very favorite fruit is for a minute, and then I want you to take some time to thank the Lord for that fruit. It can be as simple as this, “Thank you, God, for giving me apples.” It may seem silly now, but this step, thanking God for his blessings in our lives, is essential to our growing relationship with him.

Now, we have officially taken notice of one of the many gifts God has given us, and taken the time to thank him for it! Doesn’t that feel good?

My favorite fruit ever is the orange. Not just any orange, but specifically the mandarin orange. I love to peel the outer skin off the orange and smell its citrus zest; to me, it smells like pure happiness! And the sweet, juicy first bite is always so delicious! See, I’m even unable to use periods instead of exclamation points because of the excitement I get over thinking about eating a mandarin orange. The truth is, God made the fruits of the earth just for us! Oh how he loves us, every one.

At times, life will feel amazing, like when we eat fresh fruit and when we enjoy times of plenty.

Other times, we may feel like our misfortunes are piling sky high, too high for us to keep up with. We stop counting all of the bad things in our lives, because it seems like “bad” is all life has to offer anymore, maybe especially these last three years.

But that is not so, my friends.

Tell me, have we stopped seeing the goodness of God because of the badness of the world?

Psalm 34:9 says, “Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.”

Those who fear him lack nothing. Wow!

What do we lack if we fear him? NO THING.

Now, to some of us this may sound a bit confusing. Fear him? Why would I want to live my life afraid?

This is not what God means.

2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Well, where does this get us? In one verse, he says that if we fear him, we will lack for nothing, yet in another, it says that he hasn’t given us a spirit of fear at all?

Well, that’s because the fear in Psalm 34:9 is the fear of respect. Should we have a healthy fear of the unfathomable power of God? Certainly! But he does not want us to live in fear. He wants us to respect, love, obey, and fear him so that we may have a deeper personal relationship with him so that we may lack for nothing. So that, through him alone, we may have a spirit of “power, love, and a sound mind.”

God wants all of this for us, but we must abide in him.

Oh, how he loves us!

May the spirit of revival shake the earth for the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. The God of Moses, Elijah, and Jeremiah.

May we indeed taste and see that the Lord is good!