David was a fugitive, running away from King Saul. He ran to Philistia and was brought before Abimelech. To escape, David pretended to be a mad man. But it was not his pretense that saved him. It was God. Psalm 34 is David’s testimony. Using David’s words, God who is the Divine Author, compels us to come and experience that He is good, not just know that He is good.

Psalm 34:1-3 tells us of the evidence of one who has tasted that the LORD is good. He will want to worship God, personally and as part of a congregation. By God’s grace and mercy, Truth BPC has tasted of God’s goodness these past 16 years. Have you been worshipping Him in this church personally and as part of a congregation? David refused to be shaken in his faith, for he has tasted and seen that God is good, and thus he testified of God’s goodness, and he worshipped God. To be able to praise God, you must first be saved. After tasting and seeing God’s goodness in our salvation, we will want to worship, praise and magnify God. Our focus will be Him and not ourselves. When we serve, we will want to magnify Him, not ourselves. This will be unlike the people of the world who strive to be recognized. 

Psalm 34:4-5 tells us that we can forget our experience of tasting and seeing God’s goodness if we do not maintain it. David sought the LORD diligently. We too, must seek the LORD by praying without ceasing and studying His Word diligently and with discipline. When we increase our knowledge of God’s Word and obey it, we will be able to taste of His goodness as we see how He helps us to live for Him. One of the things that causes us to forget His goodness is fear. We must ask God to help us to have courage to do what He wants us to do. When we look at God, we will be made cheerful (Ps 34:5) and will then not be ashamed to be identified as a Christian, even if it means being persecuted and even losing all for Him. When we do not maintain, we will backslide.

Psalm 34:6-22 tells us that when we taste and see that the LORD is good and maintains it daily, we will experience more and more of His goodness in our life, no matter which phase of life we are in. We will grow in our faith, despite being in bodily afflictions or even deprivation, like Paul. The goodness of the LORD is entirely spiritual. We must not murmur or complain about physical losses.

May this be the year when we truly taste and see that the LORD is good, by studying and obeying His Word diligently, and praying without ceasing.