Posts Tagged: Psalm 34:8

“Nibbling God”

On August 13, 2022 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Psa. 34:8         “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!

                        Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (English Standard Version)

This was the verse of the day in the You Version app recently. In the story that was connected with the verse, the guy who was doing the story made the simple point that “taste and see” and “takes refuge” are verbs. They are things we can actually do. Indeed, we must do them if we are to experience God.

Sometimes, I put way too much emphasis on feelings and thoughts. Unfortunately, thoughts and feelings are almost always nouns. At least, that is true for me.

The Hebrew verbs for “taste” and “see” are imperatives. They are commands. Of course, as with any command, we are free to disobey. When I was a little guy, I was very finicky. My mom used to say to me, “Well, taste it and see if you like it.” Sometimes, I obeyed. Sometimes, I did not. But the only way to know if I liked something or not was to taste. No amount of external pressure or cajoling was a substitute for experiencing something for myself.

So it is with God.

How do we “taste and see that the LORD is good”? We nibble. Nibbling is a greatly underrated action in the spiritual life. I think that those of us who claim to be Christ-followers are at least partly to blame. “Either you believe, or you don’t!” is the watchword of many believers. We ignore Jesus’ comment about a mustard-seed-sized faith. We also ignore the cry of a father whose son was possessed by a very cruel demon, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” He had just enough faith to cry out for faith to help his unbelief. That’s really not a lot of faith. Yet, in response to his cry of (un)belief, Jesus healed his son. A nibble of faith was apparently enough.

Perhaps God is more eager to be tasted and known than we are to nibble.

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“WINNING BY WITHDRAWING”

On December 6, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Rabbi Abraham said:

“I have learned a new form of service from the wars of Frederick, king of Prussia.  It is not necessary to approach the enemy in order to attack him.  In fleeing from him, it is possible to circumvent him as he advances, and fall on him from the rear until he is forced to surrender.  What is needed is not to strike straight at Evil but to withdraw to the sources of divine power, and from there to circle around Evil, bend it, and transform it into its opposite.”  (Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, volume 1, page 115)

Andy Stanley made a similar point in a podcast he calls, “You Might Also Like.”  He says that you can’t overcome the temptation of greed by saying, “I’m not going to be greedy!  I’m not going to be greedy!”  Rather, we overcome greed by . . .  Well, frankly, you need to listen to his podcast on You Tube.

I have tried too often frontal assaults on the evil that assaults me.  How many times has that actually worked?  I don’t know precisely, but I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere between zero and nil.

Do you remember an old cartoon strip called “Cathy”?  Cathy was a single young lady who was always going on diets.  In every frame of the cartoon segments that chronicled her diets, she gained weight.  I can identify.

So, perhaps it would be good if we tried Rabbi Abraham’s approach and Andy Stanley’s approach.  Perhaps we should withdraw to God.  Maybe life wasn’t meant to be lived by ourselves.

Even if you don’t believe in God—and who of us really does believe in God all that much—you can act as if there is a God.  Take the empirical approach.  The Scripture says, “Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalm 34:8a)

What have got to lose?  I mean, besides the chronic losses you suffer when you attack your problems head-on?  Withdraw to the source of your strength, of all strength.  Your attack might go much better when you have done that.

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