Taste and See

Psalm 34

What is the connection between instruction in the faith, and personal experience? Here the poet commends the ways of the Lord to his community of faith, as a consequence of his experience. Teaching that arises from real experience is going to more compelling than expounding of doctrine.

But how do we keep teaching that comes from experience from being too subjective? I mean, do we not hold to certain truths that are absolute, or, with every new sharing of personal experience, we could be “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching” (Ephesians 4:14).

I think part of the answer to this could be explained in familiar modern terms: the greater the sample the more accurate the result. With some notable exceptions, say, the Law given to Moses and the Revelation given directly to John, the teaching in the Bible arises from personal experience in which a people gain understanding of the God who has been dealing with them. It is this record against which we compare and validate personal experience. The Bible’s teaching on God’s redemptive (purchase from slavery) purpose comes from the experience of a people being delivered from slavery, and then from experience of the Risen Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit. In other words, even our doctrine will be more alive to us if we understand it to have arisen from the experience of people with God in their midst. Even a direct revelation like the Ten Commandments came in the context of journey.

Worship in this psalm celebrates in Spirit what is understood about the Lord as a consequence of experience shared in faithful fellowship:

“Taste and see that the Lord is good” (verse 8a).

Prayer:
God, thank you that seeing is not believing. Who of us could see, truly see, without believing? With you, tasting is believing. Through Christ. Amen.