Sermon Bible Commentary
Psalms 34:8
The excellence and desirableness of God's gifts is a subject again and again set before us in Holy Scripture. All images of what is pleasant and sweet in nature are brought together to describe the pleasantness and sweetness of the gifts which God gives us in grace. And as it is natural to feel satisfaction and comfort in these gifts of the visible world, so it is but natural and necessary to be delighted and transported with the gifts of the world invisible; and as the visible gifts are objects of desire and search, so much more is it, I do not merely say a duty, but a privilege and blessedness, to "taste and see how gracious the Lord is."
I. I wish it were possible to lead men to greater holiness and more faithful obedience by setting before them the high and abundant joys which they have who serve God. Most persons do not at all deny either the duty or the expedience of leading a new and holy life, but they cannot understand how it can be pleasant; they cannot believe or admit that it is more pleasant than a life of liberty, laxity, and enjoyment.
II. God's service is not pleasant to those who like it not; true: but it is pleasant to those who do. The pleasures of sin are not to be compared in fulness and intensity to the pleasures of holy living.
III. Let no persons then be surprised that religious obedience should really be so pleasant in itself when it seems to them so distasteful. It is a secret till they try to be religious. Men know what sin is by experience. They do not know what holiness is; and they cannot obtain the knowledge of its secret pleasure till they join themselves truly and heartily to Christ, and devote themselves to His service till they "taste" and thereby try.
IV. If a religious life is pleasant here, in spite of the old Adam interrupting the pleasure and defiling us, what a glorious day it will be if it is granted to us hereafter to enter into the kingdom of heaven! "Be not weary in welldoing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not."
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons,vol. vii., p. 192.
Religion is a thing that all must try for themselves. Notice a few things that it is well to try and "taste."
I. Prayer. Find out in the Bible some promise, then go to God with that promise, and ask that it may be true to you, that you may enjoy it for Christ's sake. If you go on waiting and praying, you will "see."
II. Read the Bible. You may not always find it pleasant, because some things we must do as a duty, and the pleasure will follow. "O taste and see."
III. The pleasantest thing in the world is to feel forgiven to feel that God loves you. It is the happiest feeling anybody ever has this side of heaven. "O taste and see."
IV. It is a happy thing to conquer one's sins, to keep one's heart clear. It is a pleasant thing to weed a garden; but the pleasantest of all is to keep your heart free from weeds.
V. Work. Knowledge in the head will not do without love in the heart, and that will not do without work in the fingers. Do something useful. Be kind. Do good to somebody.
VI. Everything is sweet till you have tasted a sweeter. The pleasures of the world are sweet to those who have never tasted religion, but people who have tasted Divine pleasures care not much for the pleasures of the world. They say that heavenly pleasures are better than earthly ones. Having once tasted the upper spring, they cannot go back to the nether spring. "O taste and see."
J. Vaughan, Children's Sermons,1875, p. 57.
References: Psalms 34:8. S. Cox, Expositor,2nd series, vol. iv., p. 411; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons,p. 115.