We’re at a soccer game, and the morning is young. The sky is crisp and blue. There’s a hint of chill to the air. The autumn-brown cornfield that fringes the field rustles in the breeze. My ten-year old son, Gabriel, is with his team, ready to play, but his younger brother, Isaiah, is on my lap.
He holds an apple. It’s fresh from the tree and generous in his hands. I watch as he takes a bite. A smile curves behind the fruit. I know that it’s sweet and cool.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the one who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 38:8, NIV)
The Lord places this verse in the center of my heart. The day is lovely, and we’re with family and friends, and there are few things as precious as a gathering under the sun.
It’s easy sitting here, with our world tipping and turning to our liking, to taste and see the blessings. They’re rich. They’re plentiful. They’re as comforting and evident as the warmth on our shoulders.
But later in the day, my circumstances shift. There’s a disappointment. A sadness. I try to make sense of a tangled situation, but I can’t.
Suddenly the warmth is not on my shoulders. There’s a weight to the happening, and I wonder how emotion can swing so far and fast.
It’s then that the Lord whispers again.
But this time He whispers into my darkness.
Taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
And in that moment, sitting in the cool confines of my living room, the command and the promise come to life. It’s like breath. It fills me as my understanding goes deeper.
The tasting, clinging and knowing–the grace in the promise of the Lord’s goodness–is sweeter when we’re seeking Him for refuge. When we run to Him, hide in Him, heal and rest in His Presence, there is blessing. The Lord’s goodness may be even more evident, more powerful in this precious place.
I may not be, at this moment, sitting in the sun, but His goodness shines brighter just where I am.
It’s okay.
It’s more than okay.
For He is good.
And I am, indeed, blessed.
