Just One Bite

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, August 11th, 2024:
​Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Psalm 34

R. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. 

R. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. 

R. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. The poor one called, and the Lord heard, and saved that person from every trouble. 

R. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

​R. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

​Pause. Pray. Reflect.

I’m just going to be honest: sometimes I think it would be hard for me to spend a lot of time with David, to whom this psalm is attributed, if this is how he talked.

God’s praise is continually in his mouth? He never grumbles about the weather or getting up early or doing the dishes?

I know that a psalm like this should fill me with hope and joy as it extolls the mercies and generally praise-worthy nature of God. But on some days, when I’m already feeling kind of low, this type of scripture makes me feel decidedly “less than.”

Do I believe everything this psalm says about God? I can answer that question with a resounding “Yes!” Yes, I believe in a loving, infinitely merciful God who will deliver me from my fears – who wants to deliver me from my fears. But do I always live and act out of this belief? Do I always magnify the Lord as I go about my day-to-day life? Am I blessing and praising the Lord at every opportunity? Is His praise continually in my mouth, or do I find some other sentiments there from time to time? Well… maybe come back to me on those ones.

These words – this God! – should fill me with joy every minute of my life. If they do that for you, praise God! But if you share in my struggles from time to time, join me in remembering that this psalm is not an indictment of a lack of belief. David might be instructing me, but he’s not berating me. 

The glossy cookbooks I love to flip through tell me that the mark of a “true chef” is tasting and seasoning as you go – which sounds pretty obvious. What could be easier, more natural, more innate than tasting food? Yet I will admit that, in the everyday dinnertime rush of my young family, I will frequently make a familiar recipe and realize, as I plunk it down on the table, that I never actually tasted it. I forgot to do that easy, natural, innate thing. 

I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

The bad news for me, and perhaps for some of you, is that I am far too often distracted from God’s dizzying love for me by the day-to-day interruptions. I know it’s there – so it’s easy for me to put it on the back burner, knowing it will be there when I’m ready to go back to Him. And then I wonder why I feel far from God, why having His praise continually in my mouth seems so far-fetched.
 
But the good news? That news is so good we need to capitalize it. The Good News is that God’s goodness is real and accessible and easy to grasp, even for broken, dispirited me. I don’t need to be a scripture scholar or a saint to understand that.

All I have to do is taste it, and I’ll see.




Elizabeth Craig

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