A Good Word
“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”
Psalm 34:8
I love this verse! Always have. We can see the Lord is good and will be blessed when we take refuge in Him. Seriously, who would not love this verse?
The Hebrew word for good is towb (tobe). This word is packed with “good” stuff. The Lord’s goodness is better than good; really, that is part of the definition. Here’s the rest of the definition: beautiful, bountiful, cheerful, at ease, fair word, and in favor. Doesn’t that sound better than good? One definition included, used in the wildest sense. I will not gonna lie, this information put a smile on my face and made my insides warm. Yes, smiling and warm fuzzies is what I felt until a read verse 14 of the same Psalm.
David is giving wise counsel to those who desire to be recipients of the said goodness in verse 8. I hope you are ready for this.
“Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”
If you paused to wonder if good has the same meaning in verse 8 as in verse 14, it does. Yes. It. Does.
Yes. God expects us to offer the good to others as He gives us.
We are not only expected to give beautiful, bountiful, cheerfully, with ease, in fairness, and favor, God also wants our good to include the wildest sense of the word.
Let me be honest here. This did not make me smile or make my insides feel warm. Doing good for others isn’t too difficult. I find joy in doing good even for people I don’t know, but within reason. The wildest sense of the word surpasses reason.
God has asked me to clean a bathroom at the place where I get my haircut, not once but twice. This is the wildest sense of the word. He has instructed me to be extra kind to someone who has been less than extra kind to me.
The wildest sense of the word goes beyond my reason but not God’s. Yielding to His reasoning rather than mine is how I am able to taste and see His goodness. Obedience is good for me and brings beautiful into my life. The only way to see, really see all of God’s goodness is to offer His goodness to others. I can’t explain how it works, I just know that is does.
What is something good God is or has asked you to do in the wildest sense of the word?