Eating and the way to find food
This week's post lunch hour goodness is on Psalm 34:8-10:
Some Psalms interest me more than others, but I stumbled across this one the other day and quite like it. This stanza in particular says a lot about God's provision, and the attitude we should take in testing it. And it uses food analogies, which is nice.
We're to taste and see that the Lord is good. Tasting is a very active thing. If someone asks you to taste their candy bar, you're focused and paying attention. It's more than taking a bite. There's a mindfulness to it. And in the same sense, it's a small sampling of something, designed to convince you to get more. You wouldn't eat your friend's whole candy bar in order to taste it, unless you were a real jerk. But after tasting it, you might want to buy a few of your own.
We can try God to see if he is good. Give him small chances to provide for us where we need it, or to protect us, or love us, or whatever it is we need from him. Is it good? Then do more of it. The Psalm doesn't just say "Believe that the Lord is good." We're supposed to taste, to sample and focus and make decisions based on its goodness. God is good. So good, in fact, that he gives us a free taste test.
Blessed is the one who takes refuge in God. Like when you're in trouble, and you go to God for protection and peace, you're blessed. You're not going to be turned away, or get attacked under his protection. If you go to him for refuge, you will get refuge, and there's a blessing for trying it.
We're to fear the Lord, because those who fear God lack nothing. Fearing God is a kind of perspective of who we are, versus who God is. It's like the way a five year old boy fears his father in a loving way. His dad could throw him around like a rag doll if he wanted. He doesn't because he loves his son, but he could, and that commands a certain respect. God has control over everything, if he wants it. He can destroy the whole universe in an instant, like snap your fingers and everything that has ever existed no longer does.
But that fear is a two-sided coin. On the one hand, God has absolute power over everything and can destroy or remove anything we own or hold dear. On the other hand, God has absolute power over everything and can create or provide or repair anything we need or hold dear. In the same way the five year old boy fears his dad and listens when he's getting scolded, the five year old boy also knows that he can bring any broken thing to his dad to get fixed, and can go to his dad for protection from things that might hurt or attack him. He can even ask his dad for things he wants, which might appear on Christmas or his birthday. If the boy wasn't aware of his father's power, he wouldn't think to ask.
Lions may grow weak and hungry. We don't think of that nowadays, and we definitely wouldn't have thought about it a couple thousand years ago, when lions were the undisputed top of the food chain. The lion is the king of the beasts. He can eat almost any other creature. He has amazing strength and a giant mouth full of deadly teeth. He is intelligent. The lion is designed to take whatever he wants, whenever he wants it. If any creature has the means to provide for its own needs, the lion is that creature. And yet, sometimes the lion is weak and hungry. How?
God ultimately provides the food the lion seeks out for his meal. The lion can eat antelopes, zebras, and people, but antelopes, zebras, and people are all God's creation. His universe is designed such that the numbers increase and decrease as needed. If the lion is weak and hungry, it doesn't mean he's forgotten how to hunt. It means there is nothing to hunt. It's beyond the lion's control. God can provide a feast or a famine. If even the lion is not able to provide for his own needs in his own strength, how much more are we at God's mercy for the things we need in life?
Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Notice that it doesn't just say "Those who seek the Lord lack nothing" this time. It says no good thing. God isn't going to provide something toxic to us, or withhold something we need. We may find that if we're praying for another five dollar hit of crack that God doesn't provide it. And we may find that if we're praying for half a million dollars for something God wants to accomplish on earth, that he provides it. God knows our needs and our desires, and he knows what's good for us. He wants us to have what we need and he wants us to have the desires of our heart, if they're good for us.
So we should seek God for all of our needs. If we're not used to it, we can start with a taste. If you need a thousand dollars, maybe pray to save a dollar and see what happens. See that he is good! God can provide for all of our needs. It doesn't mean he'll literally fill our stomachs with himself, or literally wrap himself around us as clothes, or literally let us climb into him as a shelter, but it does mean that he'll provide food for us to eat, clothes to keep us warm, shelter to protect us, etc.
Even if we earn those things with our own labor, like with a good paycheck, it is still God who ultimately provides, not us. We're not better than the lions in that sense. The job we get the paycheck from may have been set up by God. The materials the company uses may come from the earth God created. The prosperity in the region that allows people to buy the products and services offered may be a side effect of God's blessing. The lion can kill any antelope, but no lion has ever created an antelope.
We should fear God in the sense of being abundantly aware of his power. He has the power to give and to take away. That sense of power should pervade our interactions with him. He is huge. Contradicting him is a bad idea. Going to him for help and protection is a very good idea. There is nothing in the universe with as much power as God. It's hard to imagine how powerful he is, but it's important that we don't forget that aspect of his being, not just so that we behave, but so that we know to ask for things when we need them and have confidence that he can do it.
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.
The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Some Psalms interest me more than others, but I stumbled across this one the other day and quite like it. This stanza in particular says a lot about God's provision, and the attitude we should take in testing it. And it uses food analogies, which is nice.
We're to taste and see that the Lord is good. Tasting is a very active thing. If someone asks you to taste their candy bar, you're focused and paying attention. It's more than taking a bite. There's a mindfulness to it. And in the same sense, it's a small sampling of something, designed to convince you to get more. You wouldn't eat your friend's whole candy bar in order to taste it, unless you were a real jerk. But after tasting it, you might want to buy a few of your own.
We can try God to see if he is good. Give him small chances to provide for us where we need it, or to protect us, or love us, or whatever it is we need from him. Is it good? Then do more of it. The Psalm doesn't just say "Believe that the Lord is good." We're supposed to taste, to sample and focus and make decisions based on its goodness. God is good. So good, in fact, that he gives us a free taste test.
Blessed is the one who takes refuge in God. Like when you're in trouble, and you go to God for protection and peace, you're blessed. You're not going to be turned away, or get attacked under his protection. If you go to him for refuge, you will get refuge, and there's a blessing for trying it.
We're to fear the Lord, because those who fear God lack nothing. Fearing God is a kind of perspective of who we are, versus who God is. It's like the way a five year old boy fears his father in a loving way. His dad could throw him around like a rag doll if he wanted. He doesn't because he loves his son, but he could, and that commands a certain respect. God has control over everything, if he wants it. He can destroy the whole universe in an instant, like snap your fingers and everything that has ever existed no longer does.
But that fear is a two-sided coin. On the one hand, God has absolute power over everything and can destroy or remove anything we own or hold dear. On the other hand, God has absolute power over everything and can create or provide or repair anything we need or hold dear. In the same way the five year old boy fears his dad and listens when he's getting scolded, the five year old boy also knows that he can bring any broken thing to his dad to get fixed, and can go to his dad for protection from things that might hurt or attack him. He can even ask his dad for things he wants, which might appear on Christmas or his birthday. If the boy wasn't aware of his father's power, he wouldn't think to ask.
Lions may grow weak and hungry. We don't think of that nowadays, and we definitely wouldn't have thought about it a couple thousand years ago, when lions were the undisputed top of the food chain. The lion is the king of the beasts. He can eat almost any other creature. He has amazing strength and a giant mouth full of deadly teeth. He is intelligent. The lion is designed to take whatever he wants, whenever he wants it. If any creature has the means to provide for its own needs, the lion is that creature. And yet, sometimes the lion is weak and hungry. How?
God ultimately provides the food the lion seeks out for his meal. The lion can eat antelopes, zebras, and people, but antelopes, zebras, and people are all God's creation. His universe is designed such that the numbers increase and decrease as needed. If the lion is weak and hungry, it doesn't mean he's forgotten how to hunt. It means there is nothing to hunt. It's beyond the lion's control. God can provide a feast or a famine. If even the lion is not able to provide for his own needs in his own strength, how much more are we at God's mercy for the things we need in life?
Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Notice that it doesn't just say "Those who seek the Lord lack nothing" this time. It says no good thing. God isn't going to provide something toxic to us, or withhold something we need. We may find that if we're praying for another five dollar hit of crack that God doesn't provide it. And we may find that if we're praying for half a million dollars for something God wants to accomplish on earth, that he provides it. God knows our needs and our desires, and he knows what's good for us. He wants us to have what we need and he wants us to have the desires of our heart, if they're good for us.
So we should seek God for all of our needs. If we're not used to it, we can start with a taste. If you need a thousand dollars, maybe pray to save a dollar and see what happens. See that he is good! God can provide for all of our needs. It doesn't mean he'll literally fill our stomachs with himself, or literally wrap himself around us as clothes, or literally let us climb into him as a shelter, but it does mean that he'll provide food for us to eat, clothes to keep us warm, shelter to protect us, etc.
Even if we earn those things with our own labor, like with a good paycheck, it is still God who ultimately provides, not us. We're not better than the lions in that sense. The job we get the paycheck from may have been set up by God. The materials the company uses may come from the earth God created. The prosperity in the region that allows people to buy the products and services offered may be a side effect of God's blessing. The lion can kill any antelope, but no lion has ever created an antelope.
We should fear God in the sense of being abundantly aware of his power. He has the power to give and to take away. That sense of power should pervade our interactions with him. He is huge. Contradicting him is a bad idea. Going to him for help and protection is a very good idea. There is nothing in the universe with as much power as God. It's hard to imagine how powerful he is, but it's important that we don't forget that aspect of his being, not just so that we behave, but so that we know to ask for things when we need them and have confidence that he can do it.
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