What Is Your Favorite Meal?
It is Friday night, and it has been a long and tiring week. You are looking forward to kicking off the weekend by going out for dinner with friends, enjoying good conversation, a few laughs, eating a deliciously prepared meal, and sharing a bottle of wine or tasting the newest craft beers.
At the restaurant, your server brings the menu. Oh my goodness, so many choices. And tonight’s specials, that all sound very tempting too. So, what floats your boat tonight? For some it might be a juicy steak and creamy horseradish sauce topped with grilled asparagus. For others it is a big thick bacon burger with tangy barbeque sauce and blue cheese crumbles. How about a rack of hickory smoked baby back ribs? A neighbor recently told you that the blackened salmon with a lime butter glaze is the best in town. Or if you are a vegetarian, you might go for the pasta with broccoli, red peppers and mushrooms, sautéed in olive oil and garlic.
The phrase float your boat took on a life of its own in the 1980s when boat lovers, who up to that point mostly outfitted boats simply for safety, began adding features to make their boats more ascetically pleasing, often adding weight, compromising buoyancy. Adding more stuff to your boat was fine so long as the boat would still float. So, today, in our modern vernacular, do whatever floats your boat is a way of saying, “As long as it doesn’t sink you, do what you want.”
Regardless of what your food of choice is, one thing is for sure, within a few hours you will be hungry once again. That truth becomes evident when after dinner everyone migrates to your house to sit outside by the fire pit. Snacks and beverages are aplenty. You wonder, how can we even be hungry after that huge meal? The food we eat, while it is enjoyable, and while it provides nourishment to our bodies, just never completely satisfies us. We need to eat again to stay nourished and healthy.
Scripture invites us to taste the never-ending goodness of God. In Psalm 34:8 we read this, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”
You might be familiar with that passage of scripture, but let’s drill down on some key words. The Hebrew word “taste” in v.8 is Ta’am, which means to (figuratively) perceive or evaluate, by reason, discretion or judgment. In this context, “good” (towb) is an adjective, defining God (Yahweh) as kind, merciful, gracious. And “blessed” (ˈesher) simply means happy, while “refuge” (chacah) can be understood as means to trust in, to have hope in.
To keep this verse in context we must also look at verses 9-10, which answers “what” and “why” questions. Psalm 34:9, giving us “what” we are to do, begins like this – “Fear the Lord, you his holy people.” The fear referenced here is a healthy fear, not a fear that comes from being terrified. It is a fear that comes out of respect and reverence of God, and not wanting to offend Him. And the reminder of verse 9 and all of verse 10 now answers the “why” question – “For those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”
What does all this mean? Just as you only know your favorite meal is delicious by actually eating it, tasting its goodness, these three verses say to us that we should give God a chance, try Him out, and put all our trust in Him. And, in return, God promises to be merciful, kind, and gracious. He promises to be good. He promises to provide for all our needs. The wise, the godly, are encouraged to seek the Lord, and take refuge in Him. Why, you ask? Because when we seek God and his kingdom above all else, He provides for all our needs, needs that align with his plans and purposes (see Matthew 6:33).
So, what is your favorite meal? Today, taste and see that the Lord is good! And go back for seconds. You will be glad you did!
If you are encouraged by this or any of my writings, you can subscribe to be notified by email when I post something new. To subscribe, click here. Once you put in your email address you will then get an email confirming that you wish to subscribe. Thank you.