“Taste
and see that the Lord is good!” the Psalmist in Psalm 34 declares.
It is the sort of thing that an ancient person would say as they were inviting the community to a feast in honor of God who has rescued them. Maybe the Lord saved them from the crushing load of a heavy cart? Maybe the Lord healed their little girl from the devastation of a potentially debilitating disease? Maybe the Lord brought together two young adults in marriage who no one in their right minds would ever have thought would settle down and start a family? Maybe the Lord brought victory against an enemy? Maybe the Lord brought a big, beautiful harvest of Brussels sprouts? Hey, there is no reason to throw shade at Brussels sprouts. Actually, they like to grow in partial shade. It does not matter. No matter the occasion, the whole community, rich and poor, would be invited to celebrate the goodness of the Lord.
People would dance at these events with food and drink in hand. The host would mingle and relay the story, again and again, of how God had saved, just as God has done so many times before.
“I will bless the Lord at all times; the praise of God shall ever be in my mouth,” the host of the feast declares to one groups.
“I will glory in the Lord; let the lowly hear and rejoice,” the host declares to those who were poor, but invited anyway.
“I called in my affliction, and the Lord heard me and saved me from all my troubles,” the host regales loudly to all around as he recalls over and over how the Lord saved him from the snatches of disease and death.
You see, remembering again and again what the Lord has done is a good thing. Maybe remembering again and again is an essential thing, because we are so apt to forget.
Maybe, being invited to these celebratory parties helps us to have hope during the times that we are struggling ourselves. They are a reminder that our hope is in the Lord, because the Lord is good.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good!”
Rolph Jacobson, an Old Testament scholar who was saved from a deadly cancer, celebrates every year on the anniversary of his cancer surgery that he is still alive. The saving surgery cost him both of his legs, but he still rejoices in the goodness of the Lord with a feast and recalls each year how God spared his life.
This is no small thing. People’s hope is renewed in these gatherings. They are reminded that God is good and can rescue them too. It is right, well, and good to remember the goodness of the Lord. It is good to hear the stories again and again so that we, as a community of God, do not forget.
Because, it is so easy to forget.
So many things can derail us from blessing the Lord at all times, and so many things throw up a wall and cause us to forget to remember the goodness of the Lord.
I think of the uncomfortable wedding reception that I saw on YouTube a couple of years back. It was the part of the celebration of God joining of these two people in marriage where the best man in invited to toast the couple and give his best regards. This is normally a time of some friendly roasting and fond remembrances of friendship. It is usually fun. But, in this case, it was not fun. It was as if the best man arrived completely naked. The guy had clothes on, do not get me wrong, but in his drunken stupor the guy recalled how particular people in the family had always loved the groom more and, in so doing, had ruined his own life and brought him to such a state.
The hatred in his eyes was palpable as he pointed fingers around the room, calling out by name all those whom he blamed for his problems. The man’s soul was naked, and his speech was just as hard to watch as if his suspenders had suddenly given way and dropped his drawers.
It was embarrassingly obvious that the man did not care to remember and celebrate goodness. Rather, the tale he wanted to tell again and again was the tale of anger and betrayal.
When resentment and revenge is constantly being pumped through your blood, it is hard to see God’s goodness at all. It is as if a great wall of stone has been built down the center of your heart, so that it cannot pump correctly.
This type of spiritual derailment is so prevalent in our culture that we even have a common name for this type of person: the Debbie Downer.
You have heard that, right? The Debbie Downer is the person who, after you shake the candy machine to get your Reese’s, and you celebrate with high fives after two packages of the sweet delights fall down for you to claim, says out loud, “I bet I won’t get two…or even get one…like usual.”
Either they are a Debbie Downer, or they are a “hothead.”
You know the “hothead.” He is the guy who is certain that the world is out to get him and only him. He is the guy across the aisle of the plane to whom you throw a smile with a nod, the way that most men greet one another with a show of respect, and, in return, the guy’s face immediately turns red while he shouts, “Who you looking at church boy?”
Not that this ever happened, while wearing a clerical collar, on a flight out of Detroit approximately five years ago. It is completely hypothetical, but you know the hothead.
Or maybe this spiritual derailment looks a lot like me when I secretly fume in my head, recalling my anger over and over again, just to keep it fresh, because I most certainly want to keep it fresh.
The anger blinds me to forgiveness. The anger blinds me to love. And the anger blinds me to the goodness of the Lord. After-all, if I were to let my anger subside, maybe I would do something terrible, like forgive the unforgiveable. So, like Jonah after the evil city turns from its evil ways, I sit on the edge of the city in the hot sun, and complain, and continually stir the embers of my anger.
This type of stewing has nothing to do with blessing the Lord at all times. It has nothing to do with giving a vision of goodness and salvation to the lowly. It has nothing to do with proclaiming the goodness of the Lord who saves. It has nothing to do with the Lord at all actually. It is the antithesis of the Lord. It is making room for the devil and offering him a nice couch, TV, and mini-fridge so that he might be able to take up residence in our hearts for a little while.
A community cannot hold together with this type of daily, renewed anger.
A nation cannot hold together with this rehashing of anger over and over again.
A soul cannot keep from breaking when the only thing that is remembered again and again is the story of how bad it all is.
Because, this type of evil story-telling pushes apart rather than gathering together, the writer of Ephesians has this to say to us:
“Putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.”
Do you know what I instruct all young couples in marriage preparation? When in the heat of anger, it is OK with to walk away from each other for 20 minutes, and then come back and talk. This is a good thing, because when you are angry, the brain filters all functions through that anger. When angry, none of us can be considered anything close to rational.
Now, just to be clear, there is nothing wrong with getting angry. There are a great many things about which we should be angry. Children left to fend for themselves should make us angry. Spouses demeaning the one they promised to love should make us angry. Leaders who are convinced that destroying others is the way to make the world better should make us angry.
So, “be angry” the writer of Ephesians tells us. But, do not forget what Jesus reminds us in Matthew 5:22, “anyone who is continually angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment.”
You can be angry, but feeding that anger over and over again makes room for the devil. It allows you to do horrible things and say horrible things…like inappropriate and anger filled speeches at wedding receptions.
“Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” We are reminded. Do not let the anger fester.
Instead, the writer of Ephesians encourages us to, “Let no evil talk come out of [our] mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that [our] words may give grace to those who hear.”
Maybe, if we allowed our anger to subside, we might remember the goodness of God. And, when we remember the goodness of God, those who need to hear a word of grace will hear a word of God’s grace and goodness from our lips rather than anger and complaints.
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,” the writer continues. Do not let your own negativity put God’s Holy Spirit in the grave. Do not weep for it and let it go as you would a beloved family member who is no more. God’s Spirit does not die!
If you are going to grieve something, grieve the things that rot the soul. Ephesians says, “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice.”
Let that go to the grave. When it does, when you allow Jesus to take it all with him to the cross to die with him, and to the grave to be buried with him forever, all that can possibly remain for your life is “being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
“Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…” the writer encourages us.
You know what would be helpful in this endeavor to let Jesus take away the hate? How about, rather than complaining about the world at all times, we follow the Psalmist lead and “bless the Lord at all times.”
Maybe, it would be good if the praises of God were ever in our mouths. Maybe, we should party more and remember when God has been so good. Maybe, we should have more feasts to celebrate and “taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Maybe, we could do what my faithful elderly neighbor did years ago with her old receipts. Ever a woman of the great depression, she not only would keep and use old receipts to list those for whom she wanted to pray, as I have told you in past sermons, but she would also keep a receipt that had things listed for which she was thankful to God. “A boy opened a door for her.” “The neighbor brought groceries.” She wrote these acts of God’s goodness down during the day, and then shared them with us when we were greeted across the yard after coming home from work.
The conversations were her small celebrations of how good God was. The conversations were feasts of God’s goodness. They were conversations that encouraged us to be happy and take refuge in God. After-all, God is good.
We could start right now, today, to continually remember God’s goodness. How about we take time in a moment to taste and see the goodness of the Lord, as we remember the gift of grace given to us in the feast of all feasts: the Lord’s Supper.
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