Goodness and Refuge
Originally posted March 4, 2023
“Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed in the one who takes refuge in him.”
Psalm 34:8, NIV
I love this verse of scripture.
The Lord is good. When I consider the goodness of the Lord being like the goodness that fills my mouth and floods through my senses, I often think of the garden.
I grew up with a garden. Just steps from my front door of my childhood was a bounty of wonderful. Wonderful that included planting, watering, weeding, and watching. Wonderful that included picking, peeling, canning, and eating. There is a distinct goodness that comes with anticipating the first, sweet corn of the season or eating a watermelon sliced in the field. Goodness can be tasted.
Sometimes, instead of garden bounty, the concept of sweet goodness leads me to recall pictures I’ve seen. Moments in time such as our daughter, Erin (at age 15 months), dancing in the sunlight as it streamed through the window; my husband, John, playing Frisbee with our dog Jack; or all 45 pounds of little Wesley Crosby dressed up as Tinkerbelle for trick or treat. Goodness can be seen.
God’s goodness is also revealed in the indisputable grandeur of creation. The Grand Tetons at sunrise, the wild, mountain river, and the flowers that bloom in by backyard are all a goodness than seems bigger than my mind can fully hold. The earth is filled with God’s goodness and his beauty.
I believe this was the intention of David, the writer of Psalm 34. I think he penned the verse to serve as both a reminder and an invitation to personally experience and explore (taste and see) God’s nature – all his goodness – all of Him!
This first part of Psalm 34:8 is frequently quoted and often imprinted on various Christian products. But there is truth here that we can’t miss – or rather, we should not miss.
It’s in the second part of the verse; the rest of David’s sincere message:
“… blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”
Refuge.
That word also brings forth mental images and memories some of which are not so poetic.
My writer’s heart struggles with how to eloquently word, grimy and guilty, gripped in fear or exhausted to the core. Needing a refuge implies neediness on our part, and I don’t meet a lot of women who embrace the term/label of neediness easily. Yet, life reveals that we need a refuge, a place to rest, and a shelter that will hold.
In his goodness, God is ever willing and able to be that refuge. God is our ever-present sanctuary. The One who creates the flowers’ petals and monitors the temperature of the mountain river, offers to be our shelter. Our personal place of rest. It my experience, that God does not chide me for needing what he is offering. I think it will be the same for you.
Reading back through this verse, I smile thinking of David. He surely had a wealth of images of God’s goodness and a thousand plus moments of God’s sheltering arms. For him, the two truths were eternally linked and inseparable. When it came to experiencing God, David didn’t hesitate to dive in heart first!
Thousands of years after they were written, his words in Psalm 34 send a direct invitation and challenge to my heart. May they also invite and challenge yours.
Blessings,
Jo
“Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed in the one who takes refuge in him.”
“Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed in the one who takes refuge in him.”
Psalm 34:8, NIV
I love this verse of scripture.
The Lord is good. When I consider the goodness of the Lord being like the goodness that fills my mouth and floods through my senses, I often think of the garden.
I grew up with a garden. Just steps from my front door of my childhood was a bounty of wonderful. Wonderful that included planting, watering, weeding, and watching. Wonderful that included picking, peeling, canning, and eating. There is a distinct goodness that comes with anticipating the first, sweet corn of the season or eating a watermelon sliced in the field. Goodness can be tasted.
Sometimes, instead of garden bounty, the concept of sweet goodness leads me to recall pictures I’ve seen. Moments in time such as our daughter, Erin (at age 15 months), dancing in the sunlight as it streamed through the window; my husband, John, playing Frisbee with our dog Jack; or all 45 pounds of little Wesley Crosby dressed up as Tinkerbelle for trick or treat. Goodness can be seen.
God’s goodness is also revealed in the indisputable grandeur of creation. The Grand Tetons at sunrise, the wild, mountain river, and the flowers that bloom in by backyard are all a goodness than seems bigger than my mind can fully hold. The earth is filled with God’s goodness and his beauty.
I believe this was the intention of David, the writer of Psalm 34. I think he penned the verse to serve as both a reminder and an invitation to personally experience and explore (taste and see) God’s nature – all his goodness – all of Him!
This first part of Psalm 34:8 is frequently quoted and often imprinted on various Christian products. But there is truth here that we can’t miss – or rather, we should not miss.
It’s in the second part of the verse; the rest of David’s sincere message:
“… blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”
Refuge.
That word also brings forth mental images and memories some of which are not so poetic.
My writer’s heart struggles with how to eloquently word, grimy and guilty, gripped in fear or exhausted to the core. Needing a refuge implies neediness on our part, and I don’t meet a lot of women who embrace the term/label of neediness easily. Yet, life reveals that we need a refuge, a place to rest, and a shelter that will hold.
In his goodness, God is ever willing and able to be that refuge. God is our ever-present sanctuary. The One who creates the flowers’ petals and monitors the temperature of the mountain river, offers to be our shelter. Our personal place of rest. It my experience, that God does not chide me for needing what he is offering. I think it will be the same for you.
Reading back through this verse, I smile thinking of David. He surely had a wealth of images of God’s goodness and a thousand plus moments of God’s sheltering arms. For him, the two truths were eternally linked and inseparable. When it came to experiencing God, David didn’t hesitate to dive in heart first!
Thousands of years after they were written, his words in Psalm 34 send a direct invitation and challenge to my heart. May they also invite and challenge yours.
Blessings,
Jo
“Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed in the one who takes refuge in him.”
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