Taste and See
READ
Picture David hiding out, having just faked madness in front of a foreign king to save his own life — drooling on his beard, scratching at doors, doing whatever it took to survive a moment of real danger (1 Samuel 21:12-15). It's not his finest hour. And yet this is exactly the backdrop for Psalm 34, a song overflowing with gratitude and invitation. Somewhere in the middle of it, David lands on a single line that changes how we're meant to approach God altogether.
Read Psalm 34:8 and notice the very first word.
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
REFLECT
Taste.
Not believe. Not agree. Not understand. Taste.
It's such a strange word to put next to God. We're used to faith being described in terms of belief statements — creeds, doctrines, things you hold to be true in your head. And those matter. But David skips straight past the intellectual entry point and goes for something more immediate. He wants you to experience this, not just affirm it.
Think about the last time you tried a food you'd only heard described. Someone tells you it's rich, or bright, or unlike anything else you've had. You nod. You believe them, probably. But it's not the same as putting it in your mouth. Taste creates its own kind of certainty — the kind explanation can't manufacture. It's personal. It's immediate. And once you've tasted it, you don't really need convincing anymore.
That's the invitation here. "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Before conviction, before theology, before the settled confidence of years walking with God — there's often just a moment. A small one. An answered prayer that catches you off guard. An unexpected wave of peace when you had every reason to be anxious. A friend's kindness that felt like it came from somewhere beyond them. These moments are tastes — little, immediate, almost sensory experiences of goodness that don't ask you to reason your way in first.
And tastes build appetite. That's how this works. Nobody falls in love with a cuisine from a textbook description. They fall in love with it one bite at a time, until eventually they don't need convincing that it's good — they know, because they've had it, again and again, until knowing became as natural as breathing.
If your relationship with God has started to feel like something you study rather than something you experience, this verse is an on-ramp back in. It's not asking you to fake an emotion. It's asking you to pay attention — to the ordinary, ten-second moments where goodness shows up, and let yourself actually notice them instead of rushing past.
Wonder first. Belief follows. That's the order David gives us, and it's a kinder, more honest way into faith than starting with an argument you have to win.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
What's a recent moment where God's goodness felt tangible — not something you concluded, but something you noticed?
Has faith started to feel more like information to you lately than an experience? What might help you taste again?
Where, specifically, could you look for God's goodness this week — in an ordinary conversation, a quiet moment, an answered prayer?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
God, thank You for inviting us to taste before we're asked to explain. Forgive us for letting faith turn into information we manage instead of goodness we experience. Open our eyes today to the small, ordinary places You're already showing up. Let this be a week of noticing, not just believing. Give us fresh appetite for You. Amen.