“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” – Psalm 34:8

I am a COVID-19 survivor. Frankly, I still can’t tell the circumstances under which I got infected. In fact I didn’t know that I had been infected. 

Unusual body weakness was followed by something I had never experienced. I completely lost both my senses of smell and taste! 

I could not smell the usual odors and scents including my perfume.

At first I thought it was probably some sort of cold or flu.

But when I realized that I could not taste anything, I got alarmed. 

On googling to find out what causes loss of taste, alas; it was one of the telltale symptoms of COVID-19!

Have you even imagined what life would be like without the sense of taste – when you’re not able to tell the difference between salt and sugar; when you can’t enjoy your favorite drink or snack?

According to science, taste is a critical sense because of its effect on the ingestion and digestion of food, which is essential for survival.

There are several basic taste qualities, including sweet, bitter, sour etc.

Indeed, the physiological system for the sense of the taste is said to be the first to be developed of all human senses, aimed at enabling the baby to enjoy feeding on breast milk as soon as it is born.

In our meditation today, David sings a psalm in which he urges the people of God to “taste and see” of the Lord’s goodness.

David had just narrowly escaped being killed by pretending to be a mad man before king Abimelech.

If you have not tasted of the goodness of Christ, sorry; there’s no way we can describe it to you. You have to find out for yourself.

Indeed, the interesting thing about tasting is that you have to do it yourself; no one can taste for you nor describe it using words.

Can you describe the taste of honey to someone else? 

No, you can’t; she has to taste it herself to know how good it is.

In another Bible version, “taste and see” is translated as “discover for yourself that the LORD is good.”

Another version says; “find out for yourself how good the LORD is.”

The goodness of God is comparable to no other; but you have to enjoy Him in order to know how enjoyable He really is.

Having ‘tasted’ of the goodness of Christ for years, I actually get shocked when some so-called ‘atheist’ makes the claim that God does not exist!  Really?

I like how Solomon put it in Songs of Solomon 2:3: “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.”

If you have not tasted of the goodness of Christ, sorry; there’s no way we can describe it to you. You have to find it out for yourself.

If you have tasted it already, there is more. The Lord Jesus has so many different taste qualities.

You simply can’t exhaust them. Keep on tasting; don’t be contented with just one! 

Prayer:

Almighty God, thank you because You’re a good God. Help me to keep discovering more and more of your goodness  in Jesus’ Name, Amen!