O Taste and See!

"O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him." ~ Psalm 34:8

I grew up in the 1950s and 60s in Peoria. Peoria is not a big city like Chicago, but it's not a small town, either. Kids growing up in a moderate-sized city in the Midwest during the 1950s and 60s ate simple foods—cereal, eggs, or pancakes for breakfast; sandwiches, soup, and fruit for lunch; meat, potatoes, and vegetables for supper. At least those were the kind of things most of the kids I knew ate.

Most of the food we ate was good, but rather bland and boring. The most exciting spice I remember from my childhood was chili powder, and that was used sparingly. Exotic ethnic foods were not as widespread and available as they are today. You may find it hard to believe, but I didn't even know what a taco was until after I was out of high school. I remember my mom telling me that some new neighbors had moved in across the street, and they had cooked some Mexican food. "They make these things called 'tacos,'" my mom informed me. I think this was in 1968.

Ethnic foods may have been popular in bigger cities back then, but not where we lived. Of course pizza was around when I was a kid, but even pizza was not nearly as widespread and available as it is today.

I first heard about pizza when I was about nine years old. Back then they called it "pizza pie." I still remember the first time I heard someone say something about it. My mom said that my Uncle Dudley, a baker, was going to make some pizza pies for a gathering of relatives that evening.

I had never before heard the word "pizza," but I certainly knew what pies were. Pies were filled with sweet, delicious fruit filling--cherry, apple, peach, blueberry. Pie was one of my favorite desserts. And Uncle Dudley made great desserts.

"What's in pizza pie?" I asked my mom.

"Oh, it's really good," she said. "It has tomato sauce, onions and green peppers, cheese and meat."

That didn't sound like pie to me. Who wants tomato sauce and onion on their dessert? I wouldn't like pizza pie, I thought to myself.

That night I saw the pizza pies come out of the oven. The appearance of these so-called "pies" only affirmed my imagined dislike of pizza. Seeing the blood-red tomato sauce bleeding out from under the pus-colored melted cheese, it reminded me of a big open sore oozing with infection.

That looks disgusting, I thought to myself.

When someone offered me a slice, I politely declined. "No thanks," I said. "I don't like pizza pie."

I had convinced myself that I didn't like pizza, so I filled up on chips and others snacks that evening. And every other evening when pizza was served. Anytime pizza was offered to me, I would say, "No thanks. I don't like pizza."

This went on for about two or three years. I heard everyone continually raving about how good pizza was. Eventually I started to wonder: Was it possible that I might actually like pizza pie? I had never tasted it; I had just assumed that I wouldn't like it. Should I taste it?

Finally I worked up enough courage to try just one bite, to taste and see...

Wow! It was delicious! The pizza-eaters were right! I felt like the Queen of Sheba when she saw Solomon's glory and said "the half was not told me" (1 Kings 10:7).

I was delighted and happy to finally add pizza to my diet, but I felt like a fool. I regretted those years of pizza-eating opportunities that I had squandered because of my stubborn refusal to taste and see that pizza is good.

I tell this true story to tell you this. There are multitudes of people who have never had a genuine encounter with the living God. They have never tasted and seen that the Lord is good, just as I had never tasted and seen that pizza is good. They assume that they would dislike having a relationship with God through His Son. The thought of being in a relationship with God is unappetizing to them.

These people make premature assumptions about God for the very same reason I made my premature, erroneous assumption about pizza. They confuse a relationship with the living God with dead religion, just as I had confused pizza pie with dessert pies.

In our efforts to persuade people to taste and see that the Lord is good, we need to be sure we give a testimony of a living, vibrant relationship and not of a dead religious system. If people had told me that pizza pie was great for dessert, I probably would not have wanted to taste it. The fact that people liked pizza so much that they ate it for the main course of the meal—and sometimes the only course—made me think that maybe I was missing out on something good.

So let's make sure that our lives give a clear testimony that the Lord is not just our dessert—not just a sweet after-thought at the end of the week when we go to church. He is our main portion every day of our lives.

Our testimony of the Lord's goodness must be passionate. The more I heard pizza-eaters passionately testifying about pizza, the more I thought that maybe I should taste and see for myself what it was like. The more we passionately praise the Lord, the more people will doubt their imagined dislike of God.

The most common Hebrew word for praise is hallel, from whence we get Halleluyah ("praise ye Yah"). One meaning of hallel is "to celebrate, to rave." So in your celebration, rave passionately about the Lord, like those pizza-eaters of my childhood raved passionately about pizza. Maybe your passionate raving will help persuade some sinners to taste and see that the Lord is good.

| DB

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