Have You Tasted the Goodness of God?

Yesterday we established the fact that God often commands us to feel. He demands that we desire Him and His Word. That’s what the last of five opening imperatives commands in 1 Peter 2:2. Peter writes, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk.”

Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is clearly commanding that we long for, hunger for something. God commands you to feel. But why? Because what He tells you to feel is for your good. He demands you to desire for what brings life. He commands you to hunger for what truly satisfies. That’s Peter’s point in verse 3, “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” Even though verse 2 comes before verse 3 in the text, if we ordered the passage logically verse 3 would come first. You will not hunger for the pure milk of verse 2 unless you have first tasted that God is good.

It’s like going to Sam’s Club or Costco on a Saturday before Covid-19. What’s so special about Sam’s Club or Costco on a Saturday before Covid-19? Samples. You enter the store and you’re not particularly hungry. But as you begin to walk through the store you notice a sweet elderly lady in a hairnet standing behind a metal rolling stand. On that stand is a microwave and from that microwave is wafting a delicious smell. Samples. It’s something you’ve never tried before. But you smell it, you see it, and eventually (perhaps against your better judgment) you taste it.

That’s when the battle begins. Because there’s an unwritten rule at Sam’s Club or Costco that you’re only supposed to get one sample. But now that you’ve tasted the culinary genius of a particular snack you must have more. You’ve tasted it and it is good.  If you’re lucky your wife is with you and she doesn’t want one, so you can pretend you’re getting one for her. Then when you’ve turned into the next aisle you can enjoy another sample for yourself. Or if you have children (the more the merrier!) you can sometimes get samples for them, especially if it’s something that is not appealing to their unrefined appetites. If you don’t have a spouse or decoy children nearby, you can sometimes get a second sample if you feign interest in the product. Perhaps even load a box of the product in your shopping cart.

If you’re judging me right now, I would suggest you haven’t had the right samples. Because when you taste and see that the sample is good, it awakens in you a hunger for more. That’s what God does! When you taste and see that He is good, He awakens your appetite for more.

Do you have an appetite for God? Have you tasted His goodness? This is what it means to be a Christian. A Christian is one who has tasted the goodness of God. He or she is someone whose appetite for God has been awakened. Christians aren’t dreary, dutiful drones who follow God because they must. We love Him! We delight in Him! Why? Because He’s good!

He whispers and galaxies appear. He sculpts mountains and carves out rivers. He paints glorious sunsets with captivating color. He orders the universe and holds it together. He breathes and life is formed: Bengal tigers, poison dart frogs, swallow-tailed hummingbirds, Siberian huskies, whitetail deer, Clydesdale horses, humpback whales. But for all their beauty, they pale in comparison to men and women, uniquely created to reflect the image of God.

Out of all of God’s glorious creation, apart from Satan and his angels it was only humans who had the audacity to disobey. The winds and the waves obey Him, but we say “no.” And none of that was a surprise to this good God. He knew we would disobey, and He created us anyways. He knew what it would cost to redeem us: the life and death of His own Son. 1 Peter 1:20 says Jesus “was foreknown before the foundation of the world.” God knew what creating you would cost Him. Yet He created you anyways. Why? Because He is good. Have you tasted the goodness of God?