Tag: Psalms (Page 1 of 2)

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
-Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

I recently had the incredible privilege of witnessing the birth of my first child, a son. I will never forget the feeling of seeing my little boy in flesh and bone for the first time. It was an indescribable experience and one of the best moments of my life. I can hardly imagine topping it.

But on the other hand, in the grand scheme of things, it’s really not that consequential. I mean, statistically speaking, 4 children are born in the world every second. Expanding that further, 250 babies appear per minute, and 15,000 in an hour. That’s approximately 360,000 newborns entering into the world every, single day! Hardly something worth getting excited over. Babies being born is basically the equivillent of my heart beating. It’s cool and all, but it’s certainly not newsworthy. And clearly isn’t not something worth praising God over! Anything that happens 400+ times while I brush my teeth isn’t worth celebrating or giving the Creator any credit for.

Two wildly different opinions on the exact same event. And according to David the psalmist, the ideology of the second is thoroughly and utterly wrong.

Instead of looking at the human experience with a wide lenses, he instead focuses on the up-close details. Just look how full of amazement and reverence David is… “God, you created my inmost being? Woah! You knit me together in my mother’s womb? Yeah! I am fearfully and wonderfully made, by you? Wow!” It’s as if David is saying, “I couldn’t care less how ordinary a new baby’s conception or birth is… I’m still going to praise you for it because you care about it, you were involved with it, and ultimately you still did it!”

Because it really is all about perspective, isn’t it? One can play devil’s advocate about the so-called “works of God” simply being nothing more than humdrum, day-to-day events. A baby is born? Cool, but no big deal. A colorful sunset? Yeah, that’s nice. I woke up and didn’t die in my sleep? Oh well, another day.

Just because something is common doesn’t make it any less miraculous.

When I laid eyes on my little boy for the first time, my first thought wasn’t, “This is neat, but it happens more than a quarter million times per day.” All I could do is marvel in the surreal, supernatural moment and say, “Wow.”

The more I read the Bible, the more I find story after story of people who, like David, were fixiated on God’s power and ability. They didn’t take anything he did for granted. Everything they encountered, it was done through him and by him and for him. They didn’t look for reasons to deny praise to God… Instead, they looked for opportunities to praise him for anything. To them, everything was a testimony to God’s majesty.

You can downplay things against God’s greatness. Or, you can drop your jaw in awe of him. Sometimes we all just need to shut up and say, “Wow.”

Who knows? You might even start praising him for the ordinary.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
-Psalm 34:8 (NIV)

I love being at the grocery store on days when they are giving away free samples of food. My stomach gets fed and who knows? Maybe I’ll discover a new favorite I wouldn’t have considered otherwise. It’s really a brilliant marketing strategy. The companies are basically saying, “We believe we have a good product. To prove that, give it a taste.” They are challenging the shoppers to take a chance and try it for themselves.

In Psalm 34, the author David is sharing that the Lord is good. And if you don’t believe it, then he says to just taste and see for yourself.

I think it’s interesting which of the five senses was used in this verse. Putting your faith in something you just have to hear, smell, touch or see is a relatively safe gamble. If you hear something that’s irritating, you can cover your ears. If you smell something disgusting, you can pinch your nose. If you touch something unpleasant, you can wash your hands. If you see something unattractive, you can look away. Yeah, there might be some short-term discomfort with each of those scenarios, but no harm, no foul.

But when you actually taste something, you are taking a chance. What you eat is either going to be beneficial for you, or it is going to harmful. If the result of the test is bad, it might leave a gross taste in your mouth or make your stomach hurt. Or, if you’re not so lucky, what you ate could even poison and kill you. And that’s the thing with tasting… Once the act is done, there’s no turning back.

Whether you’ve thought about it before or not, tasting is serious business.

That’s why it’s so important that we understand the psalmist’s word choice here. He didn’t say to simply listen, sniff, feel or look… There’s no real risk involved there. He said to trust the Lord, go out on a limb and taste his goodness directly.

You see, you’ll never know just how delicious that food is on the shelf next to you is until you take that first bite.

Likewise, God is daring us to give him a try so he can prove that he is good indeed. He’s declaring, “Don’t take my word for it… You’ve got to experience it firsthand. Trust me completely with your life. Follow me obediently with your heart, soul and mind. Surrender your will exclusively to me. I stand by my product… I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.”

Just taste and see.